Then And Now

A year ago, I had a filling pop out.  While we were waiting for everything to go numb, I asked Dr. E. about how healthcare reform was going to affect dentistry.  He replied that dentistry was such a small part of the healthcare pie it wasn't even on the radar.  

I have quite a few amalgam fillings, and I usually have to get one of them repaired every now and then.  The rule so far has been to watch for as long as possible, then fix when a crack starts to grow or darken.  I was therefore a bit surprised when the Dr. walked in and said "Let's schedule an appointment to do all of your maintenance work that needs to be done before your insurance re-ups  in December."  I of course inquired as to the sense of urgency.  Apparently in order to meet the demands of healthcare reform, the insurance industry is going to start shifting money away from dental and vision towards health proper.

At the moment, this is simply an interesting factoid.  There's nothing else really to say about it; dental was a part of the company healthcare package and like any good parasite I'm going to exploit anything that's free.  It's just that I can't shake this sense of foreboding, like my next filling will be inspired by a an Iron Curtain propaganda pamphlet.

Pet Peeve Of The Week:

Stud finders.  I have never, ever been able to find a stud with either the cheap magnet-on-a-rocker type or the expensive type that looks like a handheld video game from the 80's.  I think they are all voodoo crap.  I would have been better served walking along the wall with a forked branch.