Help Rennie Fix Her Teeth!
Donation protected
As some of y'all may already know, I've been struggling with my health for a long time now. For the last year or so, there hasn't been more than a month that's gone by without me getting sick. I've caught every cold and bug that's crossed my path, I've had half a dozen sinus infections, and last fall I caught pneumonia. Eventually, my partner had a thought: what if it's my teeth?
Shortly after we moved to our current home in Indiana, I applied for our state's medicaid expansion, HIP. There are two tiers to HIP, HIP Basic and HIP Plus. In order to qualify for HIP Plus, you have to send in a good-faith payment of $10 and contribute a small, monthly amount. Unlike Basic, HIP Plus partially covers dental. When I applied, I sent in my payment, but they misplaced it and I was bumped down to HIP Basic. I was unable to re-apply for HIP Plus for three years. They just would n't send me the paperwork for it, no matter how many times I called. Eventually, they found my payment and sent me a refund check for it, and I was finally, finally able to re-apply for Plus, but the damage was done.
It turns out that in that time I developed half a dozen cavities, and one of my back teeth has rotted beyond saving and needs to be removed. I have another tooth in back that either needs a root canal or to be removed, and I'm missing a crown. I also confirmed that my teeth are the source of my health issues: the infection from one of my back teeth has spread up into my sinus cavity, and it's what's been making me sick over and over.
My big problem now is that HIP only covers 4 restorations a year, and all of those have been used up on the cavities the dentist I've been seeing deemed most medically pressing. I still need to see an oral surgeon to figure out if they can pull my back tooth or if I'll need surgery, and an endodontist to determine if the other tooth can be saved at all.
On top of all of this, over the last few months my teeth have started to seriously hurt. I can't remember the last time I had a pain-free day, or didn't wake up in the middle of the night with my teeth aching so badly I wanted to cry. I struggle to eat, there's almost no way to take a pain-free bite. It's making my jaw, my sinuses, and even my ears hurt, and I've been getting vertigo just from turning my head too quickly.
Right now, I can't even afford to get my teeth evaluated by the specialists. I'm a full-time artist, most of my income comes from my Patreon, and I barely get by month-to-month as it is.
My current goal is only a rough estimate, I need to be able to see both an oral surgeon and an endodontist before I know exactly how much this is going to cost, but I know it's not going to be cheap. Any additional funds will go towards paying down old dental debt from my first root canal(which currently stands at about $1200.) Even if folks donated just enough for me to pay to get evaluated, it would mean the world to me. You can also help support me through my Patreon or my Teepublic , where I sell cute shirts and mugs, or donate directly through my
<3
Shortly after we moved to our current home in Indiana, I applied for our state's medicaid expansion, HIP. There are two tiers to HIP, HIP Basic and HIP Plus. In order to qualify for HIP Plus, you have to send in a good-faith payment of $10 and contribute a small, monthly amount. Unlike Basic, HIP Plus partially covers dental. When I applied, I sent in my payment, but they misplaced it and I was bumped down to HIP Basic. I was unable to re-apply for HIP Plus for three years. They just would n't send me the paperwork for it, no matter how many times I called. Eventually, they found my payment and sent me a refund check for it, and I was finally, finally able to re-apply for Plus, but the damage was done.
It turns out that in that time I developed half a dozen cavities, and one of my back teeth has rotted beyond saving and needs to be removed. I have another tooth in back that either needs a root canal or to be removed, and I'm missing a crown. I also confirmed that my teeth are the source of my health issues: the infection from one of my back teeth has spread up into my sinus cavity, and it's what's been making me sick over and over.
My big problem now is that HIP only covers 4 restorations a year, and all of those have been used up on the cavities the dentist I've been seeing deemed most medically pressing. I still need to see an oral surgeon to figure out if they can pull my back tooth or if I'll need surgery, and an endodontist to determine if the other tooth can be saved at all.
On top of all of this, over the last few months my teeth have started to seriously hurt. I can't remember the last time I had a pain-free day, or didn't wake up in the middle of the night with my teeth aching so badly I wanted to cry. I struggle to eat, there's almost no way to take a pain-free bite. It's making my jaw, my sinuses, and even my ears hurt, and I've been getting vertigo just from turning my head too quickly.
Right now, I can't even afford to get my teeth evaluated by the specialists. I'm a full-time artist, most of my income comes from my Patreon, and I barely get by month-to-month as it is.
My current goal is only a rough estimate, I need to be able to see both an oral surgeon and an endodontist before I know exactly how much this is going to cost, but I know it's not going to be cheap. Any additional funds will go towards paying down old dental debt from my first root canal(which currently stands at about $1200.) Even if folks donated just enough for me to pay to get evaluated, it would mean the world to me. You can also help support me through my Patreon or my Teepublic , where I sell cute shirts and mugs, or donate directly through my
<3
Organizer
Rennie Kingsley
Organizer
Portage, IN