I can think of a lot of pleasurable things I would like to spend $1600 on, from techno toys to airline tickets.

One thing I didn’t want to spend that money on was a root canal. But these are things you can only put off for so long, and apparently I reached the mark.

dentalxray123rf

(No, those aren’t my teeth, that image is from 123rf.com)

Now, mind you, two years ago I spent $1500 on a crown for this freaking tooth. So the running tab for this ONE TOOTH, with the crown and the root canal, is over three thousand dollars. More than my book advance. And I am still not done, since I have to get the crown (which they had to drill through to fix the roots) repaired once the permanent filling goes in.

“Well,” I hear you say, “if you took better care of your teeth, this wouldn’t happen.” But actually it’s one of those little-considered side effects of epilepsy. You have seizures, you break teeth. Cracks happen, as they say.

And, oh joy of joys, the endodontist says I have one on the other side that’s going to need the same treatment. At least that one doesn’t have a crown on it yet. You know why? Because two years ago, when the dentist said it needed one, I could only afford to do the right side, not both the left AND the right side.

So, yeah, I guess there some benefits to putting stuff off. Procrastinators, that one’s for you.