Teeth Ouchies

[apricot3.livejournal.com]

Almost a week ago, my jaw was hurting but I thought I had just slept funny. It didn't get better, so here I am with a throbbing mouth and no insurance, trying frantically to find something cheap and quick. figures I'm indulging in restaurant week this evening and I can barely stand to chew soup :P

tips, tufts or BU advice, thoughts on West Somerville Dental and root canal stories of cheapness welcome...


Yes, I read through a lot of the previous Dentist tags, and it was helpful- glad I can rule out Gentle Dental!! On google I saw a blurb from them for $57 cleanings, but that doesn't sound worth it since I'll definitely need more.

I just made an appointment with West Somerville Dental at 124 College Ave and was wondering if anyone had any words on them. She said, literally "Nobody is here today," but I scheduled to have Xrays and see someone tomorrow and then go in for a cleaning on Monday, which they are being nice and letting me split the cost for a coupon I received- $67 for new patient cleanings and diagnosis. I feel a little sketched out about a place with coupons and not much wait, but I'm in a lot of pain and there are far too many dentists in this area. I'm tempted to just walk along broadway to college and go to the doors of the all the places and see who will take me Now, at least for a cleaning so I know what I'm dealing with.

I think for the real deal I may have to go through Tufts or BU since I'm a broke girl. Tufts emergency said that, if I'm lucky and get there at 7am, they can only help the pain for $77 and then I could have the full procedure the last week in September for under a grand (i forgot to ask if they do a payment plan). I was told that the only way to get that Sept fix is if I show up first for an initial chance walk-in visit, which would suck if I go to this other place first, but I just can't wait for a "chance" to be seen.
BU's site uses a lot of PDFs for their info and I have an archaic and unruly computer so I can't see anything :(

How many of you have done the Tufts waiting lottery? I'm worried about relying on that, not to mention I don't want to drag myself Anywhere before 10am!


**edit**
Has anyone ever gone through Harvard? They weren't very helpful over the phone and I had to leave a message for the root canal lady even though I insisted that I'm not positive What I need done, I just hurt. They wouldn't give me any estimates at all, even after i asked if a cleaning would be under $100, there was "No way to know" :P

Oh, and very importantly... how long does it take to get over this? I don't have sick days at work, but I assume I'll have to at least take off the day I have it done so I need to work that out too :(

So at this point, I'll see what they find tomorrow. I was wondering if some of you could give me estimates of how much you've paid for an uninsured root canal (specifically in the molar region).
Yes, I'm that person that drives 5 miles out of the way to save 5 cents on gas, if you can't tell ;)