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trinityvixenI haven't ranted about work in a while, and it's overdue for a long rant. I'll keep it short though. Basically, this place blows when it comes to my dental plan. Had I paid an extra $13/month for the Columbia Dental Plan, I think--think, mind you, not know--I would be covered for a trip I need to make this week. I am going to look up the exact numbers, but essentially, when I was hired, I was told that support staff get GHI dental automatically, a system whereby you pay nothing per month, pay upfront for any dental service, then get reimbursed. Could be a pain if you really needed the say $100s you might pay on an expensive visit, but 25% would come back to you with this plan, and I wasn't planning on needing anything above and beyond the call of the hygenist.
Well, life is a funny old twat, innit she? Not only do I have to go to the dentist, I'm not covered by this plan after all. It turns out that the plan is only for after one year's worth of being employed. Sigh. Okay, not soooo bad, I guess, but I'm not going to the dentist. I'm going to the oral surgeon to get these wisdom teeth taken out. I got a referral from the people I went to for cleanings and such at home, which is happy, and got told to pay upfront when I get there to the tune of anywhere from $200-400 (god knows if that's per tooth), which is less happy.
I wish when my benefits said 'after waiting period' they could be a tad more specific. Health kicks in 4 months after effective hire date, why the hell should dental take so fucking long? Worse, I have to use up a sick day to get the teeth removed because the only free day they had this week was Thursday, so I get to recoup then go back to work Friday. Double damned-if-I-do, this GHI plan, when I was trying to look up oral surgeons, seems not to have any in the state of New York, and I'm not kidding. What a crap-ass plan. I may switch over to the Columbia plan and then get the other two wisdom teeth removed just because I'm going to be paying too little too late to get the ones that are actively hurting me taken out now. Stupid fucking teeth.
In good news, Lisa told me to take tylenol for the ache, and it seems to work. I don't know why it is, but I always assume that pain-killers that are over-the-counter type stuffs are for headaches only. Or really bad cramps the first day of that time of the month. It really just did not occur to me yesterday at all to take anything. Mostly, I admit, it was because I wanted to believe it would go away. I'm not dentist-phobic, I just knew it would be a pain in the ass to arrange all this, and it has been. If the teeth would just go back up into my jaw, preferably not hurting, I'd greatly appreciate it. The other good news is I may have only one adult tooth to be removed. Serendipitously, the side with the aching teeth is the one where I still have a baby tooth (in my family, we have this weird genetic thing where a couple of molars just never had adult teeth below the babies--I have just one, but my older sibs had two, and my dad might have more than that....or had, as he has the worst teeth of all of us). In that case, I may inquire as to whether or not they can deep-six the baby and I can keep one wisdom tooth. I'd be getting a new tooth for grinding and losing a visibly smaller and used tooth in the process.
Are oral surgeons like car dealers? Do they take trade-ins? Also, local or general? Who's had the teeth out and wants to tell me? I'm leaning towards the general after remembering how Carrie was (and she was definitely not out of it, so I assume it was local). Suggestions? Opinions? I'll have my mom with me to take care of me either way, so that's not an issue, really, just one of pain vs expense, if there's a difference.
Well, life is a funny old twat, innit she? Not only do I have to go to the dentist, I'm not covered by this plan after all. It turns out that the plan is only for after one year's worth of being employed. Sigh. Okay, not soooo bad, I guess, but I'm not going to the dentist. I'm going to the oral surgeon to get these wisdom teeth taken out. I got a referral from the people I went to for cleanings and such at home, which is happy, and got told to pay upfront when I get there to the tune of anywhere from $200-400 (god knows if that's per tooth), which is less happy.
I wish when my benefits said 'after waiting period' they could be a tad more specific. Health kicks in 4 months after effective hire date, why the hell should dental take so fucking long? Worse, I have to use up a sick day to get the teeth removed because the only free day they had this week was Thursday, so I get to recoup then go back to work Friday. Double damned-if-I-do, this GHI plan, when I was trying to look up oral surgeons, seems not to have any in the state of New York, and I'm not kidding. What a crap-ass plan. I may switch over to the Columbia plan and then get the other two wisdom teeth removed just because I'm going to be paying too little too late to get the ones that are actively hurting me taken out now. Stupid fucking teeth.
In good news, Lisa told me to take tylenol for the ache, and it seems to work. I don't know why it is, but I always assume that pain-killers that are over-the-counter type stuffs are for headaches only. Or really bad cramps the first day of that time of the month. It really just did not occur to me yesterday at all to take anything. Mostly, I admit, it was because I wanted to believe it would go away. I'm not dentist-phobic, I just knew it would be a pain in the ass to arrange all this, and it has been. If the teeth would just go back up into my jaw, preferably not hurting, I'd greatly appreciate it. The other good news is I may have only one adult tooth to be removed. Serendipitously, the side with the aching teeth is the one where I still have a baby tooth (in my family, we have this weird genetic thing where a couple of molars just never had adult teeth below the babies--I have just one, but my older sibs had two, and my dad might have more than that....or had, as he has the worst teeth of all of us). In that case, I may inquire as to whether or not they can deep-six the baby and I can keep one wisdom tooth. I'd be getting a new tooth for grinding and losing a visibly smaller and used tooth in the process.
Are oral surgeons like car dealers? Do they take trade-ins? Also, local or general? Who's had the teeth out and wants to tell me? I'm leaning towards the general after remembering how Carrie was (and she was definitely not out of it, so I assume it was local). Suggestions? Opinions? I'll have my mom with me to take care of me either way, so that's not an issue, really, just one of pain vs expense, if there's a difference.
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Date: 2004-10-12 09:00 pm (UTC)Don't forget... codeine is your friend. It is likely that you will be rather out of it from pain drugs for a while after your teeth go away. As in, working on Friday will either not be productive at all and people might feel sorry for you and send you home, or you might be too tired from them to get to work.
Good luck with it! And don't forget to post whilst high on drugs! =)