Root Canal Time!

Well, actually it was Tuesday morning. I had part of a filling pop out a few of months ago, and just kinda let it slide. Sure enough, my jaw started to ache, so I asked my wife to schedule an appointment with the Dentist that we're covered under with her medical plan, and went to see him.
What a mess!
It took their assistant FOUR times to get a decent X-ray of the tooth, and then the "Dentist" walks in and calmly says "We'll have to pull that tooth".
WHAT!?!
Being the curious type, I've always asked a lot of questions at my previous Dentist, who took great delight in explaining what she was doing to a patient who actually understood all the terms, and asked intelligent questions. I just instinctively KNEW the tooth couldn't possibly be that bad, so I asked this new Dentist about the possibilities of getting it *properly* repaired, probably involving a crown at minimum, and a root canal/crown if it really was as bad as he seemed to indicate. "Well....", he started to hem and haw, "I can *probably* call the insurance company to see if it's OK to refer you to a specialist....but I don't know if they'll approve it....".
So? CALL THEM! He seemed a little put off by this, but instructed his office person to call, and low and behold, they approved it immediately.
When I got home, the specialist called me, informed it would be a $100 co-pay to get started, plus anything the insurance wouldn't cover, and I'd have to come in for an examination. Then, I'd go back to the referring Dentist, who would prep the tooth, and then go back to the second dentist would would do the root canal, and fit a temporary crown. After some time, the permanent crown would be ready, and I'd back and have it installed.
The whole process would take about a month. A MONTH!
DUH!
I immediately called my original Dentist, and they told me to come in for a consultation as soon as I could get there. My dentist looked at it briefly, and then turned me over to her new partner, who took the X-rays (digital images, actually, and ready to view in seconds), and said there was no way that tooth should be pulled, and that, as I suspected, it could be saved. As I was waiting, their office manager called the insurance company, which was the same I've had since 1999 but I'm on a different plan now, and tried to find out how much, if any, of the charges they'd pick up. Nada.....the plan my wife has requires you to go to certain Dentists, and if you don't, it's YOUR bill to pay.
Oh, well......
Seeing as I really trust this Dentist, and the one required by my wife's insurance just kinda-sorta creeped me out, I went ahead and scheduled the entire procedure with them.
One of the reasons I like this dentist is that she's got all the latest whiz-bang equipment (she taught briefly at the USC Dental school after she graduated) like the digital imaging equipment, they have all my records, and they're genuinely nice, caring people who do most excellent work. They've won professional awards, she takes off a few times a year to God-forsaken places to do free Dentistry for the locals, and I just felt much more comfortable (even paying the entire tab out-of-pocket) going there.
One of the neat machines she has now, is a 3D imaging "camera", and the PC software to go with it. As she was prepping the tooth, she'd take images of it, and examine them to see how things were going to fit in relation to my other teeth. When she was done, she "adjusted" the images for a final fit, and then sent the file to the little bench-top CNC machining center in another room. As the second dentist was doing the actual root canal work, the CNC mill went ahead and produced the crown to the dimensions specified in the digital file. After a brief trial fit and some adjust ment, she attached the crown, did the final polishing to fit my bite, and I was done.
Total time? A little over three hours!
Yeah, it cost me about $2k, but I know the job was done properly, I was minimal discomfort the whole time, the crown fits perfectly, and I'll never have to worry about it again.
I look at it this way.....if my Jeep needed a new transmission or transfer case, I'd pay that much to get it fixed properly, and at my age, I'd better take at least as good of care of myself!