40 Years Ago Tonight

Susan and I were married 40 years ago this evening in Niagara Falls, NY where Susan grew up.
Food shopping for a week cost us $9.00 which included meat for the week since we were not vegetarians as we are today. Today without meat, we spent $100.
A gallon of gas in 1971 was 37.9 CENTS and today we paid $4.11.
A car in 1971 was a little over $3,000 and today it is $25,000.
A house was about $35,000 and today $250,000.
Hospitalization was about $60 per month and now it is $1200 a month
A crown for a tooth was $250 in 1971 and today in my office it is $1250.

40 years is a very long time but as you can see almost everything on this list has increased in cost 8 to 10 times since 1971 EXCEPT DENTISTRY. The cost of a crown is 5times or less what it cost in 1971.

So please think about this when you think that dentistry is expensive. It has gone up about 5 times what it cost in 1971 but everything else has increased almost 10 times what it cost in 1971.

As Casey Stengel the manager of the Yankees used to say, "And you can look it up."