I had a dental implant put in today.
Not because of some freak accident. Not because I got punched in a fight or cracked a tooth eating something stupid. It started with something far more ordinary and far more dangerous: neglect.
Back in my early 20s, I skipped dental cleanings for a few years. I was young, busy, and thought I was invincible.
Like a lot of people at that age, I treated maintenance like it was optional. Oil changes, sleep, health checkups, relationships, finances — it all feels like something you can ignore until later.
Then later shows up with a bill.
A small cavity turned into a root canal. And instead of just paying for quality treatment in Los Angeles, I decided to save money and drive to Tijuana, Mexico. At the time, it felt smart. I convinced myself I had “beaten the system.” Same procedure, lower price. Why pay thousands more in California?
That decision followed me for over 20 years.
The tooth failed. Then came infections. Repairs. More dental visits. Stress. Pain. Eventually the tooth had to come out completely.
Then came implant number one. That failed years later too. Today was implant number two on the exact same tooth.
One cheap decision in my 20s turned into almost $10,000 over two decades.
That is how life works more often than people want to admit.
Small neglect becomes massive consequences. Cheap shortcuts become expensive life lessons. The problem is that youth tricks people into believing consequences are optional.
They are not optional. They are usually just delayed.
People destroy their finances this way. Their health. Their marriages. Their careers. They avoid maintenance because maintenance feels boring and expensive in the moment.
But the cost of repair is almost always worse.
Nobody brags about flossing. Nobody gets excited about preventive care. But discipline in the small things quietly saves people from disasters later.
Sitting in that dental chair today, numb and staring at the ceiling lights, I realized something uncomfortable: most suffering in adult life does not come from one catastrophic event. It comes from years of ignored warning signs.
And the scary part is this: when you are young, you think you are saving money by cutting corners.
Sometimes you are actually just financing a future disaster at high interest.
On the bright side, I’ll have a brand new tooth soon and I live to fight another day.
Onward 🫡
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