<p>So like a month and a half ago, some friends and I were messing around and I accidentally knocked a friend's tooth loose. I was going to give a different friend a light punch in the shoulder when he leaned in and got hit in the mouth. It wasn't a hard punch or anything, just a clean connection. We'd been drinking a bit, but this is the kind of thing that is just as likely to happen to while completely sober. It wasn't out of aggression or anything; it was purely an accident that I feel horrible about.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, he said it's been giving him trouble, so I payed for him to get a dentist appointment. He found out that he needs a root canal and crown to fix it. Apparently he doesn't have dental insurance and so those things will cost about $1300. Obviously, I can't really afford that and neither can he.</p>
<p>He thinks it's time to go to our parents. I have the strong suspicion my parents will just about kill me and make me pay for it. What do I do?</p>
<p>I tend to agree that it’s time to go to your parents, though I hope you don’t get just about killed.</p>
<p>If you have another way of raising the money quickly, that is another way of handling it. But it’s not fair to expect him to wait to have this taken care of while the two of you slowly raise the money, and the dentist is almost certainly going to want to get paid at the time of the procedure.</p>
<p>I think it’s great that the two of you are both able to recognize that there was no malice in any of this. I think it’s great that you took responsibility to pay for the first dentist’s appointment. (My take on it is that if he was throwing light punches too, the two of you should be splitting the costs.) And I hope that none of the parents will think that anyone did anything wrong (with the possible exception of underage drinking, if either or both of you are under 21) or that anybody deserves to be yelled at. But if the two of you can’t come up with $1300 between you (with anyone who contributes more than he owes being reimbursed by the other as fast as possible), then you need to find another source, and the odds are that your parents have more cash than you do.</p>
<p>I do suggest that you figure out, in writing, who is responsible for us and each keep a copy of the agreement signed by both of you. Then, as money is transferred between people, get receipts. If one of you changes his mind about what he owes the other, or if one of you remembers paying the other some money and the other one doesn’t remember receiving the payment, that can really strain the relationship. If each of you has everything in writing, then later on if one of you misremembers something you will both be able to verify what actually happened.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice. I decided to talk to my dad about it, and he basically said to make the guy plead his case with dentists before saying I’ll help him out. My dad is right that my friend won’t get it done as cheaply as he can if he knows that I’m there to pay his bill.</p>
<p>Also, he said that because it’s a case of mutually assumed risk I’m not legally responsible and not to let myself be extorted in any way.</p>
<p>I feel it was extremely helpful to talk to my dad about it, so thanks again for offering a nudge in that direction.</p>
<p>As someone who has had two root canals done to the same tooth (that died and abscessed twice due to a dentist error in pulling an adjacent tooth) and was supposed to have that very tooth crowned (turns out it can’t be, it has to be replaced with an implant), $1,300 sounds extremely cheap for both root canal and crown. At least from a reputable location. A back alley office might give you a cheaper quote, but the success rate is definitely going to drastically decrease along with the cost.</p>
<p>Did your friend see a regular dentist? Or did they see an endodontist? The latter specializes in these sort of procedures and trust me, you want one of them to do this. If an endodontist is not an option, find out the dentist’s success rate with root canals and how often they perform the procedure. Is it something they regularly experience? Or is it something they’ve only been taught as a part of their basic training and have not had much experience outside of school with it at all?</p>
<p>I second getting everything in writing. Especially as it may turn out after closer inspection that the tooth cannot be saved even with a root canal and a crown. It could be that an implant is needed and one of these, at minimum, is around $5,000. This is assuming all that is needed is extraction, implant, and crown. If things like bone grafting are needed, the costs will increase even more so.</p>