Well today was an eventful day for me: I lost my tooth. I mean, I already had lost it 11 years ago but had a partial (which is a replacement tooth/retainer device), and I had lost it in a car accident where I was hit by a car, apparently flew 6 feet either in the air or in front of the car, and broke the windshield on the car with my head. Big effin ouch right?

I woke up today and couldn’t find my tooth anywhere! I know I know confusing… why did I take it out? Well I have this fear that I will swallow it in my sleep (and maybe I did swallow it this time lol). I also take it out when I eat certain foods (like nachos). This is also why I avoid dinner dates–not because I fear I will look like a slob or gain weight while on a date, but that my tooth will fall out in the middle of taking a bite and *gasp* my date will be embarrassed to be seen with me as opposed showing a concern about what the hell just happened to me.

This is a false tooth that has fallen out in embarrassing situations for me like sneezing really hard and having it fly to the front of your grade 10 math class or laughing so hard that it fell out at the bottom of your friend’s feet. That happened too. What also happened is I lost a few times before but I have managed to find it, step on it, break it in half and manage to still wear it all these years half broken (because I didn’t have the $$ to replace it).

I lucked out today though. I don’t have insurance like many people in this country. Some people think we have amazing health care in Canada. I beg to differ. I have dreaded this day that I would lose it. Now it’s Christmas soon and all I want for Christmas (and for the past 11 years) is my two front teeth. Literally.

So here I am in my 26th year, still toothless. When I first lost it, the insurance company would argue that I didn’t lose it in the car accident: excuuuuuuuuuuuse me but just because I don’t remember the accident doesn’t mean that I don’t remember the fact that I in fact had all my teeth *before* the accident. The dentist that they sent me to also said that they would wait a couple of years to see if a tooth would grow in its place (a big WTF!), then said I should wait until I was in my 20s (and then my 30s and another big WTF!) because they said my teeth were still shifting and they don’t want to mess up that natural process (another big WTF!). Nonetheless, I hate insurance companies and no tooth did grow in its place, and my teeth haven’t shifted since. Along with this, my great *free* health benefits that *all* Aboriginal peeps get (see what I did there? yes, sarcasm), I’ve been told that they would not cover the cost to permanently replace my tooth (which would cost 2-3K dollars without the cost of X-rays, medications after surgery, etc.) because it is considered “beauty.” Another big WTF!

I am motivated to look more deeply into an idea that has been in the back of my head for a long time because I don’t want any young person (Aboriginal or not) to go through what I did (accident or not) just because they do not have adequate dental insurance. Someone already shared with me www.shinethelight.ca already and this is an organization that was started by a dentist providing dental care to developing countries. I know Canada is not a developing country yet we still have this crappy health care system that does not cover dental work. Well, my idea is to start an organization that provides funds to young people (Aboriginal or not) who do not have dental insurance and need emergency dental care. The cost for my replacement tooth today is 400 and I know that when I previously lost (then found) it I was quoted 600 so I am happy that it’s not the cost of my monthly rental to replace my tooth which isn’t as bad and if I pay by cash tomorrow I will get 50 dollars off the 450 of the original quote. Thank god I have the funds to pay that and thank god I will get a replacement tooth on Monday after going into the office today. Just thinking about all the other people out there that are in my situation or similar situations: no dental insurance, require dental care, but have limited funds makes me kind of sick to my stomach. So, I am going to turn a bad situation for me into hopefully a good situation for others. Two cheers for a new project! Even if I can’t start an organization like this I am going to look for ways to make something similar to start!

One day…