Oral Torture person…AKA The Dreaded Dentist

I have gone to the dentist several times in the last 3 weeks and today I have come to the realization that I need to go again. Over the last three years I have been working with my dentist to do the extensive repair that my mouth needs. We have worked on it slowly to maximize my available insurance and flex spending accounts. This year I decided to get the final portion done. It entailed drilling out two of my left bottom teeth and prepping them for crowns and a bridge. The cost of this work was $2700. I planned very carefully for this expense. My insurance maxes out at $750, so I planned $2000 for my flex spending account in which the plan year that started in May. This should have covered my total expense as planned. However, nothing ever works out according to plan. After the prep work on my teeth I started to experience a large amount of pain. When I called the dentist she was out for two weeks due to a death in the family, but the assistant told me that it sounded like I was having problems with my bite and she sent me to the covering dentist. I went for my appointment and she adjusted my bite and I had some reduced pain but I was still experiencing pain in my back tooth. I went back to my regular dentist when she returned and she determined that I needed a root canal in my back tooth so she sent me to the oral surgeon. The oral surgeon gave me a root canal last Monday. When I was there he looked at both teeth and he thought my major problem was with the back tooth but to keep watch of the front tooth and to not get my permanent crown if I was still experiencing pain. Well, I still have pain and I came out of denial this morning and decided to make another appointment with the oral surgeon. The cost of each root canal is $1089…so not I am going to have an additional out of pocket expense of $2178. I tried to plan so carefully…why can’t things go as planned. I think that I am more upset about the money for the dentist than I am about the procedure.