Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Wisdom Teeth Extraction

They really make it seem as though it’s a mandatory procedure, inescapably necessary! Not like they’re making 2.5k from this less than an hour-long procedure. That’s not their motivation, not at all.

So it goes, my dentist has told me several a times that this needed to be done, the pressure on my teeth were ruining my alignment, why didn’t I do it yet, excuse me, you must do it RIGHT NOW! I would typically believe them, like the time they told me to get braces (thought I never did go through with that,) however, I read Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner’s Freakonomics this past summer and impressionably grew skeptical of those that defend our teeth! You see, extrapolating from the authors’ theories about expert knowledge, I believe that the dentist refers me to the oral surgeon, who, even if I don’t need the procedure, will say I do because if they say I don’t, then the hurts the dentists credibility. If the oral surgeon turns them away, why would the dentist continue to send the oral surgeon his clients? In exchange, the dentist gets the good will of the oral surgeon, and therefore a recommendation in their network.

Who stands to lose? After all, we pay for the insurance to do these sorts of things. The receptionist encourages, “Your under your dads insurance right?, So you get an alottment of $2500 for dental work that expires and renews in July… If you don’t use it, you’ll lose the money anyway.” From this argument alone, I ponder whether I suffer tonsilolith and if I should use the $2500 towards this ear-throat-nose procedure.

So I’m nearing July and of course I want to take advantage of this money. During my consultation, which costs a whopping $200 already, I felt pressured to accept general anesthesia (of course it costs $400 compared to the $170 laughing gas local anesthesia.) I resist with the argument, “But you told my cousin that most people don’t like it because it makes people gag as they sleepily swallow the blood?” He’s pushy, and soon enough I’m walking out the door with a $2500 invoice, a hand full of drugs, $225 co-pay, and a plan to biopsy the mole on my lip!

On February 11th, I’m on the first flight back to San Francisco, early BART & Muni home, 30 minutes of shut-eye and on the way to my 10:30 AM oral surgery! The doctor and assistants quickly hassle me down to the seat, strap me to the IV and I’m out in time to wake up! I can’t move my entire mouth, tongue or lips, and the nurse is strapping ice packs to my cheeks. They instruct my dad the prescription and the take my credit card.

The very next day: I’m off to my meeting with Braelan from the Greenlining Institute and then to my first day at my internship at Center for Asian American Media. I know, I know, I’m a trooper… But it was NOT cute.

Healed and well two months later, I receive a phone call regarding my bill. My insurance did not go through and I may have to pay through the nose, please provide more information regarding my dad’s insurance. Blasphemy! I would not have carried out the procedure were I not insured! After upsetting my father with the news, following his Muni lay off, I called the office back with a piece of my mind – just kidding – those pieces of information they requested. The woman on the phone – yes, she did not know what I was talking about. My insurance remains pending.

Furthermore, I receive a bill from Rand Laboratories (or something like that). I call, “What in the world is this for?” Apparently, a hidden cost to my oral-surgeon-pressured cosmetic surgery procedure: they sent a sample of the said mole to a lab, unbeknownst to me, and are charging me for something, I was NEVER aware of. I haven’t responded to their notices, though perhaps I should soon.

That’s my story. I do not advise.