Rachel Nabors (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} crowhen) wrote,@ 2008-02-25 12:29:00 |
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| Entry tags: | teeth, update |
With Teeth, the quest continues
I went to the orthodontist for my consultation today. It was two years or so ago that I had my last one. I couldn't afford the procedures described then, and now that I live on my own, I still can't afford them. But my dental hygienist remarked that my jaw bones were thinning, a very bad sign of improper wear, and I decided to get a second opinion on correcting my cross bite. Here's some of the photos they took with notes by me.
Don't say you don't notice it.
Nothing infuriates me more than when I am describing my plight, and someone says, Oh gee, I don't notice a problem. You look fine.
It's not about how my teeth look to other people. I like my body and don't give a toot what you think about my teeth. It's about the pain I feel when I talk for longer than five minutes at conventions. It's the popping in my jaw I get when eating baby carrots. It the thinning bones that will cause my teeth to fall out. I could care less about how it looks. I care about how it feels, and right now, it hurts. And it will only get worse. And if I don't act very soon, my jaws bones will thin to the point where braces will be very risky and I may not be able to have the procedure done at all.
At the convention, there was a man going on about how people can pick themselves up out of the mud, how young people don't have to care about health insurance, and why should he pay taxes to assist lazy people. I nearly slapped him. As a young person living from paycheck to paycheck, I have no way of fixing this problem in a timely manner.
I am trying to find a way, but we're talking about $15-25,000. Let me write that out: fifteen to twenty-five thousand dollars. You could put a down payment on a house with that kind of money or buy a nice new car or spen years in college getting a shiny degree to get a real job to pay for that procedure (although by that time my jaw will be too thin). I don't have a fraction of that in savings.
No, I don't have health insurance, because I cannot afford it. And even if the state would pick me up as a charity case, I now earn too much to be eligible. I don't think they could do massive surgery at the local health clinic anyway. This is usually considered unnecessary plastic surgery by health insurance and government agencies, even though it means the loss of my teeth in the long run.
Never before have I understood the desperation that leads people to steal and rob. I wouldn't do these things, but I realize that these people are not evil, not cruel. They're sad and desperate. They are humans, too, and they just don't see a way out.
Update
I didn't expect so much of a response. At the encouragement of others, I have set up a special PayPal account that will be used exclusively to pay for the costs of surgery and follow-up care. Leigh Dragoon has kindly agreed to audit. Thank you, Leigh. And thank you all for being so supportive. There may be shirts, so if you donate more than $25, please specify your shirt size in men's or women's.
You can also help by linking to me. Even if you can't donate, just spreading the word will help:
<a href="http://www.subcultureofone.com/te
<a href="http://www.subcultureofone.com/te
<a href="http://www.subcultureofone.com/te
Thanks to Leigh Dragoon for linking to this post and to Therese for linking, too. And also thanks to the good folks at Friends of Lulu for their cross posting, too. All of these people rock and you should love on them.
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