Help me save my tooth!

Hi! My name is Lucas Masoch (born "Luke Gonzalez"). I'm the multimedia artist and soundtrack composer known as "Baumarius" and "Syamori", and I was raised in a doomsday cult - a conservative offshoot of the SDA church that was convinced the world would end in 2015, the year I graduated high school. Being raised in that, I went along with it and ended up losing everything - my mind included. The following spring, I booked a flight to Wisconsin and left everything and everyone I knew behind with nothing but my PC and MIDI keyboard in tow.

 

Far from my family's influence, I finally had the chance to learn of the world at my own pace, and I've since settled in Pennsylvania with my partner - all the while producing a great deal of art and music along the way. My support network is ever-growing and there are many exciting things now on the horizon, but life still has it's way of reminding me that I'm not quite out of the woods yet - which brings me to the reason for today's fundraiser.

 

Last year, I broke my tooth and went to an endodontist to repair it. They didn't take my insurance, and I had to pay $1000 for a root canal and filling. However, after they finished putting the temporary filling in, they told me that it didn't need a crown and that I'd be fine for at least two years, so long as I didn't open any cans with my teeth. When I was there, I felt that their practice was kind of sketchy and the lead dentist was angry for no apparent reason. He literally stood over me, stared at me dead in the face and said, "You have cavities." And I thought to myself, "Yeah... that's why I'm here."

 

Fast-forward one year later. I've been having pain in this tooth for a little while, but recently it became unbearable. Not only did they leave some of the nerve in, but the filling work they did was shoddy. It fractured. I spent many nights in excruciating pain, waiting for an appointment with a dentist that wouldn't screw it up any further. And I finally found one! Turns out I had an abscess half the size of my tooth, which explains the swelling. They spent two hours just trying to drain it, then put a temporary filling in while I finish a course of antibiotics. When I go back on April 19th, they'll finish the rest of the process and put a crown on it.

 

According to the dentists I saw yesterday, an abscessed tooth is apparently more painful than a heart attack. I don't want to have to endure that pain again - even with anti-inflammatory drugs, all you can do is lie down and hope it passes. Unfortunately, this procedure isn't covered by my insurance (Medicaid - which I will soon be losing since I started working as a self-employed customer service agent for Omni), and when I go back in two weeks I'm going to have to pay another $700 to have it finalized. Between my rent, groceries, and other expenses, it's going to be a tough squeeze - and with employment still an uncertain question, I won't have much breathing room to make the wrong move. So, I'm running this fundraiser to see if I can avoid having to forgo the final procedure and end up in the same situation six months from now.

 

For those of you who choose to donate: I greatly appreciate your support and would like to offer you a free download of my most recent album, Baumarius Remastered. This compilation album includes 5 hours of my best work, which I've priced at $40 on my Bandcamp. It contains a variety of genres, from orchestral soundtrack music to post-rock. This music comes from a genuinely deep place and is great for studying, writing, relaxation, and inspiration. You are not obligated to download or listen to it in case it's not your thing, but regardless - thank you so much!