Marilyn Mueller

Ever since my husband and I have been together, he has been having trouble with his teeth. One of the reasons I agreed to marry him was so he could have access to my dental plan as my spouse, and medical benefits as well. Of course, love had something to do with it too, but at our ages we weren’t getting married to raise a family, we weren’t going to have any children. As far as I’m concerned, if you’re not going to have children, then the only reason to tie the knot is so that the couple can share in some sort of financial security. That probably sounds very cold, but that is the practical Virgo in me coming out!

Over the past couple of years he has really been having trouble – he needs a couple of root canals, a couple of his teeth have broken, and a couple have fallen out. I have a really hard time to understand how and why this is happening to him; I haven’t even had a cavity in over thirty years! I’ve bought a water-pik for him to use, but he won’t use it, and when we moved down here I don’t even remember unpacking it, so it may still be packed up in a box in the basement somewhere.

I feel badly for him because of his teeth, they cause him a lot of pain, and unfortunately our dental plan does not cover it all, and we can’t afford to spend the money that needs to be spent to save his teeth. I’m afraid he will have to have them pulled. And I’m afraid we will not be able to afford dentures.