(Albuquerque) My dental appointment

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I went to the dentist yesterday. Everyone wore masks and face shields. Well, I had to take my mask off for the examination.
My regular dentist retired when the ‘virus’ came along, not wanting to invest in the effort or costs of meeting the requirements to stay open.

I looked around for a ‘new’ dentist but none were accepting new patients. But then I found one taking new patients and scheduled the appointment.
I was some what skeptical as there were a few reviews of the dental clinic online, all bad, saying the staff and dentists were very rude, etc.

While there, I encountered about six different staff members (receptionist, dental assistant, dentist, cashier, etc). All were very nice, friendly, polite and professional. It was a large clean facility with more modern equipment than my prior dentist. (Felt like an exam on Star Trek). It was the nicest dental experience I ever had.

This was just the initial visit and I need go back in August to have a wisdom tooth removed. He gave me the option of a root canal or extraction. I opted for the extraction as I’ve heard horror stories about root canals.

The big surprise was when I went to pay the bill, which was $283.
They had told me to bring proof of income. I thought they wanted to make sure I could afford to pay them. But they charge you on a ‘pay scale’, and based on my Social Security I only paid $30 of that $283. The remaining $253 was zeroed out.

I get a decent SS check each month, so I’m surprised, but happy, I got out of there for only $30. They did tell me the extraction costs $250, and I’ll pay $75 of that.