INSTAPIRATE! DENTAL EMERGENCY: SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE!!! Sooo, my front crowned tooth had been slightly loose for a few months, since November, I think. But unfortunately, the whole visible part of the tooth was just about to inconveniently crack off right after a joyful Mexican dinner on a Saturday night, when all dental offices were closed... except for one!
As I was shamefully unwilling to publicly look like a pirate or a saber-toothless-tiger for a couple of days, until Monday (even though it could have been a fun cosplay gig), I frantically looked up online for "emergency dentist" and "24 hour dentist," and Google and Yelp's San Diego search directed me to Dr. Reza Kasiri as a top find. I desperately called their Pacific Beach office around 8:45pm, and low-and-behold, someone answered the phone! And even more miraculously, Dr. Kasiri was willing to see me THAT NIGHT, on a Saturday night, at 10pm!!!
My wonderfullest friend--err, my knight in shining armor--drove me over to keep me in good, calm, company, for I was nearly panicking and about to have a meltdown from reopening a wound of traumatic denial.... Over two years ago, my previous dental facility in Loma Linda gave me no hope for that front tooth, as they had performed an emergency medical surgery on this tooth and region around the tooth that was dangerously infected and spread into my skull over six years ago... when I was still in the chaotic throes of graduate school.
As we entered Dr. Kasiri's clean and comfortable office in the weee hours of the night, gently greeted by his wife, Shala, my preconditioned, dismal prognosis for the tooth--that it needed to pulled out and prepped for an implant, a project that would take years--this old prognosis was completely turned upside down by Dr. Kasiri himself. His panoramic x-ray indicated that over a 2.5-year span of time, the formerly infected bone in the front tooth that already suffered through two root canals and two crowns, with double fillings... the bone in this formerly mutilated region transformed into a healed and healthy tooth, and a healthy skeletal area surrounding the tooth, that still contained a very strong and sturdy root canal. Dr. Kasiri was confident that even though the visible chunk of my tooth chipped off, that I had a considerable amount of strong tooth structure beneath the gums, such that he could place a long, sturdy post and a sizable buildup so that he could restore my tooth! I was in disbelief that this alternative reality was even possible, given all that me and my tooth has been through!
At first, I was initial shock about the price quote for this uninsured procedure--$150 for the post and buildup, and $800 for the crown--but when I woke up in the morning in a calmer state of accepting my existential predicament, I came to realize that Dr. Kasiri's quote was only $100 more than if I returned to my old, untrustworthy dental facility in Tijuana. Frankly, given all that I know now, I am willing to pay an extra $100 for legit dental work in the US of A!
And yet another miracle, Dr. Kasiri and his wife Shala sacrificed their Sunday morning at 10am to perform the initial post, build up, mold/casting, and temp crown-fitting procedures, all to set me up for a final crown in about a week! Now, who in the heck works on a Sunday morning to resolve a dental emergency that was perhaps more functionally straining and cosmetically appalling than purely and acutely painful?
I am truly grateful that Dr. Kasiri was able to engage in a rapid-fire, off-hours emergency response to a distressful circumstance of my cracking off a latently loose front tooth, and for offering a hopeful prognosis for its longevity. And before I knew it, in less than 24 hours, I returned from being an instapirate to back to my normal self once again!