A perfect smile...

Today was the last step in my goal towards perfecting my mug shot. I had an impacted cuspid tooth and finally decided last year that my baby tooth was not going to last forever so I may as well bite the bullet and get the implant process under way. It has been a very long year filled with x-rays, and fingers in my mouth, and metal instruments that look like small torture devices prodding my gums, and dentist after dentist after dentist (all specialists who can only perform one task apparently). It was as though I were on a production line in a factory! And the costs put a huge dent in my accounts (and by huge dent I mean catastrophic meteorite smashing into Earth huge dent). BUT today was the final day after a year of missing a tooth and they screwed in my crown! I am so happy although it does feel weird to have something in that spot (like I have something stuck between my teeth! lol! ☺ ).
Although I am still waiting to see what I owe after insurance decides what they will pay, I feel like today is the day I can finally get a hold of my finances. I have spent what I needed to in the last year to fix a small but significant issue in my mouth and now I can just focus on paying off the loan I took out as well as the credit card damage for the costs that the loan didn't cover.
And for those of you that may one day get an implant, always double what you are quoted. And ask exactly what your quoted price costs. Because maybe it is just me, but I assumed an implant came with the crown and I was wrong...each of those is a couple thousand dollars. And if you have to have any surgery to remove impacted teeth, that can also run you another couple thousand. Especially if like me, nobody wants to risk removing your impacted cuspid tooth! Don't forget all of the different x-rays you will need done to showcase every possible angle of your mouth. Plus, you may invest in the partial denture to fill the hole in your mouth (although they are not comfortable and you may not even wear it except for in pictures).
But like I said, the year is over...I can now focus on paying everything back as well as put money aside for my down payment. I feel a little bit free today from the suffocating hands of the tooth doctor.

Some x-rays of my mouth. Pre tooth removal, and post tooth removal. I am supposed to be getting all of my other x-rays emailed to me, but they are not here yet.