Kids at the Dentist

The other day, I took three of my five kids to the dentist for their six month check-up. They were pretty excited about it because they always get little bags filled with goodies and a balloon. As soon as we got there, before I had finished signing them in, all three were called back. That was cool. The sooner they go back, the sooner we can get out of here. I don't really like the dentist very much but I realize the necessity of getting taking care of your teeth.

I sat down and settled in for the wait. My 4yr old daughter roamed around the lobby trying to keep herself occupied. She first grabbed a few children's books and flipped through them. Then she went to the electronic picture frame they have on the counter showing off the kids teeth who have been to the office. After a while, she waved at me to come over. On the screen was on my my kids that was currently getting their teeth checked. Then sure enough the other two appeared one after the other. These pictures were from a previous visit. She was excited to see her siblings on the picture frame. After that she wanted a cup of water from the water dispenser.

A while later, the assistant came out and said that my two boys needed several teeth sealed or resealed, I can't remember which. They said that the insurance would pay 80%. That was good, I thought. Then she hit me with our 20%, $120. If that is our part, how much does a little dab of sealant cost? Crap. How can they charge so much? I need some work done on my teeth badly, but we can't afford our 20%. That is why we don't have health insurance. The monthly premium is close to what we pay in rent for the house each month. And that is just for the kids. And, no, I don't want Obamacare. We can't afford insurance now, so they are going to force us to pay for it when we have no money. Then fine us when we can't. We won't be able to afford the fine either. My wife should just quit her job, change our last name to Hernandez, say we are from Mexico and we can get everything for free.

Sorry for the rant, back to the story....

After paying for having their teeth sealed, my six year old daughter came out. No cavities. Great. One down, two to go. A short while later, my two boys came out. No cavities either. Awesome. I made an appointment for their next six month check-up and off we went. They were all in a pretty good mood. I am always happy when there are no cavities. Although, they did say that my one son will need to see an orthodontist. Great. Because we have all this extra money lying around we don't know what to do with. Why can't rich kids have messed up teeth. Their parents can afford to have them fixed. We can't.