u/No-Cell-8208

Time to rant. A few years ago our dentist all of a sudden started hitting us with marketing e-mails about sleep apnea. What? Go in for my next appointment and fill out a long survey about sleep apnea. Funny enough, I actually have sleep apnea and use a CPAP and wasn't contacted at all. My wife, who doesn't, received a call and a pitch at her next appointment talking about some sort of jaw or throat reconstruction surgery they could do that would improve her breathing at night (which isn't an issue for her). A few months later our favorite contract dentist at that office was gone, replaced by a young kid who started asking me questions about my sleep habits, tested my reflexes and body position, and started listing out the many thousands of dollars worth of stuff I needed or needed to have done to fix my overall health. We left that office immediately after and joined the office our old favorite dentist bought. There we get perfectly great, normal ass dentist visits.

Fast forward to today - my wife has been using the same nighttime mouthguard for TMJ that she's had for years, even though it broke into three pieces. Last week she accidentally swallowed a piece requiring an emergency endoscopy to remove it. Finally convinced to seek out a new one, she sets up a consult with a specialist. In that consult, she starts doing all of the tests and inspections not related to her jaw, and starts listing off things wrong with her. Then proceeds to tell her that she'll need to come in for another consult at $700 to do further testing to determine what type of device she'll need - which will range from $1,200 to $7,000 depending on the results of the $700 consult. My wife says nope on a rope and leaves.

Was there some Tony Robbins-esque seminar where peripherally related medical service providers have learned how to fleece consumers for treatments they don't need. All my wife wants is to get fitted for a new mouthguard, which she expects to pay up to $1K for - not to have them cure her chakra and childhood traumas.

Rant over ... for now.

Married with 8th grade twins. It used to be that after our kids were in bed, my wife and I would sit down to watch a half hour or TV together, which was really our only time together at all. As our kids have gotten older, their bed times have pushed back later, and my wife insists on still doing her bedtime routine with them even though they're 14. By the time she comes downstairs, she says she's heading to bed. In reality, she's laying in bed and reading for a half hour.

I've had many conversations with her that not having that TV time together anymore is pulling us apart since now we don't spend anytime together at all. She responds by saying that we're just sitting there not talking, but I tell her that having a show we watch together gives us something in common to share. She doesn't get it and says that watching TV isn't quality time, but I feel like plenty of couples make this a thing.

Yes, I've tried going to bed with her and reading too, but we don't enjoy the same books, and its clearly not giving me the same experience since my overall connection to my wife has dropped dramatically since she started opting out of TV time in the evenings.

Not looking for advice on how to fix things as much as I am wondering if I'm crazy for thinking that watching shows together, even just for a half hour, was helping our marriage, and whether or not I'm justified in pointing out to her that her opting out is harming things.