It's me, Jenn. I have a dental emergency and need some help. My dental coverage only picks up half of major services. About three weeks ago, I lost a filling, or so I thought. The tooth behind it was able to be saved, but the one in front of it has a gaping hole with exposed nerves. I can't afford a root canal, so I'm just going to have it pulled. It's close to the front of my mouth and is going to be very obvious. At this point, I do not care. It's causing a great deal of pain and unfortunately, I have to see an oral surgeon to remove it because it's going to come out in pieces.

Any help I can get will be appreciated. As usual, I have regular "life stuff" going on... the clutch in the Miata is on its way out, this dental situation is going to leave me with $0 operating funds for the rest of December regardless of any help, and I cannot get into Coastal Family Health on a sliding scale to get this done because it's now a complicated case. On top of that, I'm scheduled to see a cardiologist for an episode I had last month that showed some abnormal electrical activity in my heart on an EKG that's causing chest pains and fatigue.

My regular dentist has referred me to an oral surgeon for the work. I'd like to get this done ASAP because the pain is practically unbearable. My portion of the extraction is going to be estimated at $500-800 or more and I just don't have it.