Before thousands of $ in dental work (just a filling is $125), the situation was this:

--no pain (occasionally achey)
--no food caught in teeth
--all teeth present or accounted for

Now, that I am supposedly in better conditiion, it reads like this:

--extreme sensitivity to cold
--food catches between teeth and has to be teased out
--two teeth gone (bye to lurking wisdom teeth)

So, tell me, how am I in better health? Sure, my teeth are clean and the cavities filled. I suppose the wisdom teeth needed to go before they caused real trouble. But overall, I don't feel better. Worse, in fact.

What's better is that the dentist's offspring has money for her first year of college, thanks to me.