I feel that (dentistry) financial pain.

When I was 11. We neighborhood kids are slept & breathed baseball. Little league ga.ez & practice were not enough. Weekends and after school. If we didn't have little league obligations. We were on a backfield at the highschool. 3 blocks from my house. A friend Tony Johnson's house backed up to the far corner. The high schools chain link fence around the "track" gave us a short porch right field fence. We created a standard little league diamond , Tony's house was one house away from the street corner. The perpendicular streets house back fences gave us a tree lined safety zone in foul territory that usually prevented us from losing the ball into a backyard. Balls were valuable to us. And we'd use a ball until the stitches frayed. Sometimes. We'd be down to some really beat up baseballs. None of us kids had much money to spend on such things... We'd constantly bug our league coaches for a practice ball. Some of the kids had younger brothers & sisters that we'd trade lil league fouls they had shagged for a slightly more valuable pay off than the free snow cone ticket the little league concession would swap for the shagged fouls.

As always, I digress. One day when we were playing Tony Johnson's older brother. A star 1b slugger on the hs varsity wanted to join in. Mike Johnson's pal, lud. The Jv teams 1st baseman slugger was there. So they joined the lil league pick up game. Lud was a lefty. When ever he joined in. It was almost automatic that lud would sail a ball on to the hs track. One rule in our pickup game. No intentional walks. And honor system calling balls & k's on yourself( which produced many a childhood argument, that always ended in us all laughing together as either the batter or pitcher fessed up to trying to get away with a "blown call")....

So anyway. Mike johnson & lud were the team captains when ever they joined in. And they'd pick teams, kiddo style like an alternating draft. I was very fast. A great cf in little league lore. But not a power hitter. I like to hit line drives over 2nd baseman's head. Create the 1st to 3rd scenario if we had a runner on 1st. I usually hit 3rd whenever we played. When lud drafted that day. My bff jeff was his 1st pick. A local lil legend pitcher in his own right. Jeff Warburton another pitcher, was always the 2nd pick. It was always the 2 Jeff's opposing each other. Both threw heat. Warburton had a nasty curve. Jeff had a good changeup... These games were usually a heckuva alot more competitive than our league games. Lud picked me 3rd or 4th that day. I preferred to hit off Jeff. That Warburton curve produced a lot of weak grounders to 2bd base from my bat. And sure enough. 1 out 1 on in the 1st inning I hit a 62 hopper to second base. Munchy gregorich, he was at 2nd base before there was any chance of an out. But 2nd baseman charged the ball spun an underhand cross body throw to 1b that beat me by a rat hair. I was dejected walking back from 1b. Hanging my head shuffling my heat. I was still only about 3/4 back from 1b. Warburton yells " play ball" I stop. Watch the windup. POW!!! LUD CRUSHES THE BALL! My jaw dropped, tracking the ball by turning my shoulders. I swear the trajectory was still up when the ball cleared that short porch fence. Then suddenly. 30 bees attacked my face. The instant sting was beyond anything ud ever felt.

It wasn't bees stinging me. Lud had hit that ball all the way over the track oval. Into the bleachers, over the far side chain fence that surrounded the oval. Easily a towering 450'- 500' blast. Like Reggie Jackson impressive those imagined bees were actually lud flinging the 36 oz grey aluminum bat in excitement. The barrel masking me perfectly right in the mouth. My lower lip, jaw agape. Was mashed into my upper jaw. My 2 front top teeth shattering and embedding in my lower lip. Only time I know if that I was knocked unconscious.

When I awoke. Both teams had surrounded me. Lud had removed his shirt and was applying pressure to my mouth. He was saying something like, " you ok kid, speak to me". Munchy Gregerich who had the birds eye view. Watching the bat fling instead of the balls flight. He had rushed over, was sitting behind me, had sat me upright while I was still unconscious, "gezzus Danny, I thought you were dead!".

They lifted me over the fence. I was wobbly legged. Lug s shirt held to my mouth. The 4 hoover kids. Jeff my bff, the triplets, Becky, Tim, slow walked me home while triplet #3 Bruce sprinted the 3 blocks(fastest kid in the neighborhood) to alert my parents.

My dad was friggen furious. Dental emergency surgery on a Sunday? That was a budget breaker for a working class father circa 1972...

Well dad? I felt your budget pain now for many years. Those twin caps have been replaced more times than I remember... The 2 tops were shattered completely away at the gum line. The only good news for the future. The adult teeth weren't fully grown in. For the 1st year. The caps were barely attached to much tooth 1st the temps fell off rather easily. Then the 2nd caps. My 1st permanent caps fell off eating a carrot.. as an adult on my own dime. With dental insurance that had a yearly $1k max payout. I've had to replace the caps 3 or 4 times. In the 80's it was about 7k out of pocket. Doing half the work late December. 2nd half in January to use up 2 years of insurance those caps began to chip, disintegrate around 91. Found a cheap option that was just under $10k... Again. December January appt. Then in 2004. Up in wasilla of all places. That dentist was a referral, a dental artist my regular dentist called him. The artist convinced me to pay the extra money for platinum caps with enamel porcelain coating. They'd match well. Fit and seal better than titanium and be kinder in surrounding teeth than titanium. The titanium teeth were $2k each. The platinum $5k each. And the labor was more expensive for the platinum teeth. But he assured me. Titanium would last 20-25 years. The platinum would last 50 years, basically my lifetime. The bill was $22k. My insurance covered $1500 in December & $1500 in January. A nice bill of $19k.

Here I am 22 years later. Those 2 platinum teeth in my mouth are the only teeth not crumpling like soapstone. Too much chemo, too much radioactive dye pt-scans... My tooth enamel flakes of like croissant layers when I brush my teeth.

It's been a lifetime pain in the mouth. The stigma of false teeth, well the bone loss in the jaw as well. I opted a very many years to spend what I felt was too much money trying to save teeth...
In retrospect? I should have opted for a bridge to replace the front teeth. And then as the enamel flaking began. Just pulled everything and switched to dentures.. especially now. Not understanding that a tooth infection can actually kill a stubborn old man.

I've never used anyone in my life. Never filed any litigation or arbitration. But I have spent my entire adult life wishing my parents had filed a medical claim against lud. Bastard, wtf! Throwing a bat? That's some total bs! A sportsmanship agreement we are taught on the 1st day of lil league. It's akin to the #1 rule of gun handling. Always assume it's loaded. If you throw a bat. Always assume it's going to hit an observer.

Teeth ... What a pain in the mouth. Good thing we don't have em at the exit portal. They'd be the literal and true pain in the arse! Lol✌️