Recently, I started going to the dentist now that I have benefits. It has been many years since I last sat in a dentist chair. It isn’t because I don’t like dentists, but instead because I could never make them a priority when I knew it would cost me hundreds of dollars every visit. Well, because of that view, I now have thousands of dollars in dental work that needs to be done.

The grand total of work that needs to be done on my teeth in the next three or so months is three thousand, four hundred and thirty dollars ($3430)!

I need to get a root canal, a crown, one filling replaced, and two new ones added. The bulk of the cost comes from the root canal and the crown. I am currently doing everything I can to raise enough money to be able to afford the dental work that I need to get done.

Even with my benefits, I still need to pay up front, and I need to do the root canal and crown together, so that has been rather interesting. I ended up selling LifeSnips.com to a good friend of mine: Chris Garrett, and I’ll be helping him migrate it, clean it up, and whatever else he wants or need over a reasonable amount of time as his purchase of the site contributed nearly a third of what I need.

I have considered selling my new camera, but I can’t really bare to part with it.

I have been doing client work pretty steady over the last few months, and so I’ve billed them for that work, and hopefully the checks will get here soon so that I can add nearly another third to my much needed teeth fund. On top of that, I am going to have to do some belt tightening. I don’t really use many services other than Internet and the most basic features on my cell phone, so there isn’t much I can scale back on other than my meals.

In the end, I am also working on trying to work out a deal with the dental company in hopes of maybe paying half up front and then once I get any sort of reimbursement for the work from Green Shield, my benefits company, paying the rest. They seem to be potentially open to this idea, and hopefully, I can get everything locked in place and then scheduled.

The last thing I want is horrible tooth pain, but darn, even with benefits, teeth are expensive.