Dental Dilemma

Marisol, Joel and I went to the dentist yesterday. Actually, Amelia went along with us but was not treated. During our time in Palau Marisol suffered from extreme tooth pain and went to a dental clinic that gave her an antibiotic. The nurses told us to have the tooth looked at back here because there was not time to be treated there before we needed to leave.

Since Marisol did not really have preventative dental care while she was growing up in Ecuador, she has had some dental issues over the past few years. Nevertheless, nothing prepared us for what the dentist told us yesterday after escorting us into a private room: the cost of Marisol's treatment plan would come to $6,500. We were in a state of shock. We explained that our mission does not offer dental insurance and that our HRA would not cover such a hefty bill. The discount they offered us as self-pay patients amounted to $200.

This news was very discouraging to us. I admit that one of the toughest things for me as a missionary is not being able to provide for my family's medical and now dental needs. Our insurance does not cover immunizations, annual check-ups for our children or wellness visits for Marisol and me. All of these do not count towards our yearly deductible. We take Joel and Amelia to Public Health for their shots and every time we need to say that we are underinsured and spend the whole morning there in line. Of course, we do this because we know that it is the Lord's will for us to be in missionary service. We want to be good stewards of the funds in our Health Reimbursement Account (HRA). Otherwise, we would empty our HRA every time immunization time comes around.

At the same time, I want to be honest and ask you to pray with us about this immediate need that we have as a family. We plan to ask a Christian dentist for a "second opinion" before making a decision. Please pray for peace in our hearts and God's provision. Even though $6,500 seems like such a large sum, He's never let us down before!