So…

About a month and a half ago, I had a weird, three-day spate of left-sided jaw stiffness and some dull aching. As a person with chronic migraines that tend to increase in frequency when the barometric pressure starts dancing around, I just chalked it up to being a new freak symptom that would hopefully go away with a few ibuprofen, which it did. (Yay)

Two weeks ago, it reappeared, but kinda worse, and with bonus cold sensitivity that had me seeing stars..

After finishing a pretty intense six day work week, very little sleep (and a metric fuckton of ibuprofen) I decided to take myself to urgent care to at least get checked out. Nothing they could really SEE, and we chalked it up to old TMJ acting up. She gave me a shot of steroids in the bootie and a prescription for amoxicillin in case we were missing something in my teeth. The steroids helped the muscle spasms in the joint, but after another two days with no real reduction in pain, my left ear constantly clogging and unclogging, and my tinnitus getting louder and louder, I realized I’d have to bite the bullet and go to the dentist already. As a costumer for many years, a prop-maker, and then post-COVID in New Orleans as a server/delivery driver/bartender/etc., I’ve only ever managed to have full insurance for about a year in total, and the dentist has just always been the one I meant to get to and just couldn’t swing.

I went ahead and found a dentist with great reviews that did a full set of X-rays and an exam for $99.

They were kind and gentle and confirmed a few things. 1. I needed root scaling (basically an extra deep-cleaning, happens in a couple of stages and is SPENDY), 2. I had a good handful of cavities, and 3. The tooth around a big old back molar filling was crumbling, had some decay underneath which was affecting the root (Pain, spasm, ear stuff, cold sensitivity all made sense finally) and that I would need a dang root canal and a crown before anything else could happen. Doing all that at Good Ol’ American Retail Prices™ would run me about 8k and some change.

Turns out I also clench my teeth pretty bad at night and have a ton of crowding on my lower jaw, which I believe is contributing to my migraines. I’ve looked into orthodontics here, and since I haven’t found anything less than $3800 without tax, I haven’t pursued it.

At a minimum of $12k for doing everything here in the US, it’s just not feasible. I was venting about it to a friend and she told me her partner had a GREAT experience in Mexico at Integrity Dental in Ensenada. I got in touch with them, sent them my treatment notes and X-rays, and they can do pretty much everything I need to do (after an exam to firm up my treatment plan, see whether I need *all* the cavities done, etc.) for $5k and about 10 days of my life so that I have a little time to recuperate in between procedures.

I have a little saved up for emergencies, and I think I can handle expedited Passport renewal/airfare to San Diego/Shuttle to Ensenada and back/Food/Hotel/etc., but I could really use some help for the rest.

Don’t feel like you gotta donate, I’m not trying to hard sell anyone on helping me fix my own teeth, but if not, I’d be SUPER stoked if you could go ahead & share this. Thanks for reading.

Rx, <3

Dusty