A friend of mine, who is dirt poor, smokes three packs of cigs a day and a chronic alcoholic, had three strokes recently. (Says he changed his ways... only drinking a fifth/day and smoking one pack/day.) Got admitted and they said he needed a valve in his heart. First, they pulled five teeth and he didn't have very many to spare. They were infected.

As for me, I'm nothing near that bad.

One of my concerns is the dentists wants to crown one tooth of mine that I think... he might could do a filling. This molar used to have a filling but it fell out. He says it can't be fixed now except to crown it. Hmmmm... makes me wonder.

The other thing I wonder about is the main cosmetic thing I want fixed is my front teeth on bottom. A couple have gotten very out of line, one especially, over the years. I used to have perfect teeth but in those days, the orthodontist did not prescribe wearing a retainer forever, but only for about a year. Over 40 years, my teeth moved. Anyway, to fix this one tooth jutting out, he wants to pull it and one next to it, and I think that is mandatory. But then, he wants to crown two on each side of that (four) and then anchor the bridge to the outside (canines). Hmmm... obviously, as a layman, I know nothing of dentistry but I wonder why he has to crown and anchor to the canines. I wonder why he couldn't use the ones inside that. Which would save me two crowns... over two thousand saved right there.

As for going to a dental school... hmmm... how does one do that? Just call 'em up and say, Hey, can I get an appointment? And, I also wonder about a youngster practicing on me. I do want it done right. I don't relish the thought of a do-over.