Members of my family shared a belief that unexpectedly
finding money made the discovery date "your lucky day." Thus, I was
pleased to spot a penny in the parking lot of my dentist's office when I opened
the car door.
Why not, I thought. I was there merely to have a final cap
placed over what had been a troublesome
 |
| Not all pennies are lucky. |
The new dental assistant told me what to expect.
"I'll pop off the temporary crown, clean up the old adhesive, fit the
final, and take an x-ray so the doctor can be sure all is well. Then he will
cement the final crown in and you'll be good to go."
That worked for a couple of minutes. The assistant failed
twice with the x-ray. She called in another assistant. Two more attempts
failed. An assistant who had worked there for several years was summoned. Zip.
Done. "Would you look at this, please?" the original assistant asked.
"Hum," said the veteran. "Where is that image
from?"
"It's one we took from the wrong angle before you got
here."
I heard a muffled conversation in the hallway, and the
dentist appeared. He clicked the computer monitor back and forth several times,
studying the screen intently. "Well," he said, "there's good
news and not so good news. Your crown work is perfect, but the tooth next to it
is in serious trouble. You need a root canal. We'll set it up."
"How much?" I asked.
"Only about $700."
I later figured my net good luck for the day could be valued
at around minus $699.99. Old family beliefs aren't always reliable.
