Second Opinion

A specialist in tooth and gum problems who I like a lot has declared that I am in need of a tooth-pulling, to the tune of $3,000. It seems the tooth is fine but the surrounding gums have a problem. The plan is to get rid of the tooth, then fill the resulting hole with bone from someone else (God knows who), allowing my own bone to regenerate and eventually support a screw which will, many months from now, be the base for a new, albeit fake, tooth. This all sounds horrible to me. But hey, I'm no expert, and so I agreed to embark upon this nightmare scenario scheduled to begin in three days.

The sad part is that right now I have no pain at all and starting Friday I will have plenty, requiring massive doses of painkilling drugs and ice packs and sedatives and whatever else it takes. Sounds bad, doesn't it?

Unlike my standard procedure with everyone else who tells me anything at all, when it comes to doctors I just accept their word as gospel and go with their plan, despite the fact that my personal history has repeatedly proven that "plan" to be desperately wrong. Then yesterday, a wise friend of mine pointed out that just because the doctor involved is a great guy with a sterling personality doesn't necessarily mean he's right. So for the first time in my life, I'm getting a second opinion. (I hope I like it better.)