I’ve been sharing our personal finances online since 2013. For those who haven’t been along for that whole ride, I will let you know that there have been very few times that we have used our emergency fund for anything.
Using the emergency fund is the last option. Usually we are able to handle unexpected expenses without touching our emergency fund. In fact, I wrote a whole article about three ways that our budget handles unexpected expenses.
Even though we rarely use it, our emergency fund gives us real peace of mind, so it’s valuable even without spending it.
But this time, we did indeed use our emergency fund.
Recently, our 16-year-old son, our second-oldest, got hit in the face with a discus at a track meet at our high school. He had already competed and had taken first in the event for boys. Since our school was hosting the event, our student athletes were also helping out. My son was on his way out to the field to help when his coach said, “Let me see that medal!” My son turned and a discus that was thrown completely out of bounds hit him in the mouth.
He instinctively clutched his mouth. Not knowing what to do, one of the coaches brought him over to the athletic trainer. When my son opened his mouth he spit out a tooth, root and all, along with other shards and fragments of teeth. One look at his mouthful of broken and crooked teeth and the athletic trainer knew this was above his pay grade.
Thankfully my husband and I were both volunteering at the meet, so we were quickly notified. Mike rushed him an hour away to the only emergency dentist open in the area. Unfortunately when you go to an emergency dentist, everyone else is also having an emergency, so you still have to wait.
When he was finally seen, they were able to put the bottom canine tooth back in and straighten the five wonky bottom teeth. It was super painful! The dentist cemented a wire across the back of the six bottom teeth (a “splint”) so that they would support each other while they would hopefully firm up. Four teeth on the top were loose, with the front teeth severely chipped.
He was put on antibiotics to fight infection, pain meds to handle the pain, and a liquid diet. Not the way we hoped our day would go, especially since we would be leaving for Cuba three days later.
Still, we counted our blessings and thought of the scenarios we had avoided. What if he was hit in the back of the neck or head instead? Or in the eyes? What if it had been a varsity boy throwing instead of a freshman girl? Teeth injuries aren’t any fun, but it definitely could have been worse.
My son refused to let me take a picture because he said it was too disgusting. I told him to take a picture himself for the record, but I’m definitely not publishing it here. You came here for finances, not gross dental trauma photos!
The Saturday visit to emergency dental cost $3,275 due at the time of service. Included in this cost was the follow-up visit after 3 weeks to have the splint removed from the bottom six teeth.
If you’ve seen any of my budget updates, you know that we have a medical/dental sinking fund. We typically contribute $400 each month to this category which normally carries a balance of around $3,000. Because of some other expenses we’ve had in this category in the past couple of months, the category balance at the time of the discus accident was only $2,182.
While that is a good portion of the cost of the emergency dental visit, we didn’t want to completely drain our medical/dental category. As a family of eight, we have medical and dental expenses that come up throughout the year, so we like to be prepared. Plus, this one visit is only the first step to fixing his teeth. There will be many more dental visits and procedures to correct all of the damage.
I naively expected that our dental insurance would cover a good portion of the emergency dental visit. Not so! Our dental insurance (which is more of a dental discount plan) offers a reimbursement of a whopping $400 for out-of-network emergency dental visits. Of course, we’ll take it, but it doesn’t make a huge impact.
Unfortunately, dental insurance is not like medical insurance with a deductible and an out-of-pocket maximum. With dental drama, the sky is the limit!
This initial visit is only the tip of the iceberg. The emergency dental cost doesn’t cover all of the future root canals and crowns that will be necessary because of this accident. While our dental insurance will help with the cost of root canals and crowns, they still are not cheap. We’re hoping that root canals and crowns will be enough for long-term healing.
Long story short, we used our emergency fund to cover the emergency dental visit cost of $3,275. We paid with a credit card and then recorded the transaction in our budget coming out of our emergency fund. We’re still waiting on a small $400 reimbursement from our dental insurance.
Going forward, we plan to increase our contributions to our medical/dental budget category knowing that unusual expenses are on the horizon. We will also work to pay back our emergency fund.
How about you?
- Do you have an emergency fund?
- When was the last time you used your emergency fund?
Stephanie, I am so sorry that this happened to your son! In 2020, our son was practicing at a baseball field and took a fly ball way out in the back of the field, turned, fell, and hit the cross bar of a chain link fence with his mouth (it was not padded). He broke or chipped 9 or 10 teeth with one of those being entirely lost in the field and we were in a very similar emergency situation as you. He was 12 when it happened, and had to have 4 root canals in the following year because of damage to the teeth. It was so traumatic, but we were also grateful that he didn’t hit the bar with his neck. He had to do braces afterward and ended up doing Invisalign. The orthodontist painted on some kind of white substance that matched his missing teeth so that whenever he had them on, it looked like he had a full smile. He now has that on his Invisalign retainer.
A couple of things to consider regarding expenses – does the school have insurance that might reimburse you for your expenses? Because our baseball practice was on the field of their property and they had insurance, we were able to file and recoup all emergency expenses and dental work done in the first year that were not covered by our dental insurance. We had to pay the expense first and then file for insurance. It won’t cover the cost of implants that he will need as he stops growing, but for that I am now looking into doing them in Costa Rica.
Oh Jenni that injury sounds absolutely awful!! I was cringing reading your story! That poor boy! Thank you for sharing your experience though. Maybe we will at least check with the school about insurance. I have a friend whose son sustained a major injury from a class at our school and had an unsuccessful attempt at getting the school to reimburse them (they would have had to get a lawyer involved and the lawyers only want to do it if you’re asking for damages above and beyond mere reimbursement). Your experience give me hope! The dental tourism route also sounds like a good option for major thing that will come later
You might check with the school for any insurance coverage for the event, volunteers, or student athletes that may be in place. Some or all of the dental expenses may be covered!
Thank you for the suggestion! After a few friends here suggested that to me, I talked with someone I know whose child had a major injury at school that they tried to have to school insurance cover (the PE teacher was at fault). It didn’t go well for them. The district just had them fill out paperwork and then they sent them to the insurance company who refused to pay. The next step was to hire an attorney, but they couldn’t find an attorney who would take the case just for getting their medical bills covered (~$10,000). They all wanted to sue for other damages to make it a larger amount. I am afraid our case would be the same situation.
You might check with the school for any insurance coverage for the event, volunteers, or student athletes that may be in place. Some or all of the dental expenses may be covered!
i agree. was what i was going to say
Thank you for the suggestion! After a few friends here suggested that to me, I talked with someone I know whose child had a major injury at school that they tried to have to school insurance cover (the PE teacher was at fault). It didn’t go well for them. The district just had them fill out paperwork and then they sent them to the insurance company who refused to pay. The next step was to hire an attorney, but they couldn’t find an attorney who would take the case just for getting their medical bills covered (~$10,000). They all wanted to sue for other damages to make it a larger amount. I am afraid our case would be the same situation.
Oh how terrible! Sending much healing energy to his teeth! I’m glad you have an emergency fund and I think broken teeth qualifies as an emergency for sure (also dental insurance is so trash, it reminds me of what self-employed health insurance was like before the ACA). Oof!
Thank you Lillian! Yes, dental insurance is basically just a coupon, not insurance!
No emergency fund but with an active kid, this story might have scared me into one. I honestly have no idea what we would have done.
Not near as traumatic but I feel on the playground and hit my front teeth. Chipped one, got it repaired. 9 years later got a root canal in that same tooth and 9 years later had to have that root canal redone and one done in the tooth next to it. I have no idea how we’d afford it if that happened to my children. 😳🫤
That’s what I keep hearing, that it can be fixed now, but down the road it will probably need to be fixed again… and again!
Sorry to hear. Poor kid. Hope he gets better soon. And glad you were financially prepared to handle it and not having to put it on a credit card.
Thank you Jennifer!
Your poor son! I hope he heals mentally as well as physically. I don’t know if I could muster up the strength to be near any flying objects for awhile after that. The pain, the liquid diet…I am sure you are all spoiling him rotten for a little bit. How fortunate it didn’t hit him as you said in any vital organs and how fortunate it was that you were right there to get him help. Prayers for his continued healing.
I totally agree with what Astrid says!
Thank you! He’s pretty resilient! He’s back to throwing discus after having a couple of weeks off! I am definitely still freaked out by the thought of something like that happening to someone again.
Oh my gosh! Your poor boy and pocket book but…one less stress is that emergency fund and how grateful you must be for it. Dentists are very expensive in Canada as well but generally if you have coverage from work it usually covers 80%. I hope your boy is feeling better soon.
That’s great! Our health insurance is like that, but not dental “insurance” unfortunately. Thank you for the kind words Barb!
Oof. I’m so so sorry! That’s no fun at all. But it’s so great to know you had the funds to cover it!
Thanks June!