Spit Happens: If You Have More Tatoos Than Teeth...You Might Be A Redneck.

This title could also be Dollars and Dentists! Comedian Jeff Foxworthy made a career with his trademark line...If you -fill in the blank - then you might be a redneck. I have nothing against tattoos and this blog is not about tattoos. It's about your priorities.

Here's a dentist's typical emergency toothache patient: Doc, I've been up all night, this thing has hurt off and on for several months but last night it just didn't let up, can you please make it stop hurting? So we present the options to provide relief: 1. Root Canal Treatment or 2. Extraction.
This Q & A dialogue follows:
Patient question: Can't you just put a filling in it?
Dentist: NO, a sensitive tooth may be calmed with a filling but an infected tooth is sick beyond what a filling will resolve.
Patient: What do you think is best?
Dentist: It's always best to save a tooth.
Patient: How much will it cost?
Dentist: It always costs more to save a tooth than to remove it and generally a Root Canal Treatment and Crown costs 10 times what having the tooth removed will cost.

This is when the entertainment starts.
Patient: I can't afford that kind of money! Are you serious? That much for just one tooth?

Dentist: Yep.

Now here's the fun part, the patient begins to tell us that their trip to Mexico for spring break zapped their savings. Or...My sister just got married in Hawaii and we just couldn't miss the opportunity to tie a family vacation into the trip, Or...We just bought a new SUV and didn't realize how much the license plates were going to be. Get the idea?