Today I saw a patient who had spent a time away from the dentist.   She did this simply out of being busy not out of fear of the dentist or pain.  She wasn't avoiding the dentist, she just was too busy to go.  She had not chosen her health as a priority.   She had perfectly valid excuses.  She had been occupied with her pregnancy and her new baby. 

 

These are wonderful reasons to be occupied; actually, in my opinion family is the goal of your life. However, in her case it became an obstacle to keeping herself healthy.  She didn't understand that by not choosing to put her health as a high priority the consequences are significant -- She will lose this tooth.  It is a molar in the back and will leave a big hole in her bite.  This is in addition to all of the problems of bite collapse, jaw joint instability and pain, tooth movement or shifting, etc.  In this case, I have prepared the patient to fix the problem but it will be in the thousands of dollars and will take a few months time to complete.  Had she been here for maintenance at the six month intervals we would have noticed the decay under the crown and it could have been patched, repaired or the crown could have been re-cemented for a cost of a hundred dollars.  Lesson learned.  It is why I get my oil changed every three months even though I don't drive nearly 3,000 miles in that time.  It is why I check my tire pressure before my tires wear unevenly on the outside by being underinflated.

 

Miguel de Cervantes said in the year 1605 in his book Don Quixote, "Every tooth in a (man's) head is more valuable than a diamond."