I was going to reply to this:
but then saw this post:
I wonder what she meant by "just". Last week? A month earlier? Root canals ARE expensive and WERE expensive. They were complicated procedures back then and are (still) also very time-consuming and require multiple visits to accomplish.
She stated that she was working as a dishwasher, and a minimum wage job isn't going to pay for a root canal. Especially one that she could not have been working (if she actually worked it at all) for no longer than a month. Nor the X-rays required or the pain-killing medication, nor the cap or crown required to finish the job. A person living a transient lifestyle simply can't afford it. Especially as she was travelling about.
I'm still more akin to think she had it done prior to leaving her home New Year's Eve where perhaps she was on a Dental Coverage plan under her parent? The fact she had the first part done means that someone anted up a lot of cash, or a dental plan to make that happen and even get her that far into the process.
For people not covered by dental plans, the cost of a root canal is very cost-prohibitive. To this day for persons not covered under dental plans or working very well-paying jobs (unlike the homeless, indigent, kids on the run etc) --- the go-to option for dentists for persons who can not afford the costs, the pain-killing drugs too etc, is to simply remove the infected tooth. Et voila!! Problem solved very quickly, easily, cheaply and efficiently in 10 minutes. No follow-up or pain killers required. Tooth extraction would have been the route a dentist took to look after the infected tooth of someone without the ability to afford a root canal. Still happens that way today. That's why I'm convinced the procedure began before she ran away.
Interesting. She stated in the article you linked she was trying to get back to Phoenix then hitch a ride to NJ. What did she do in the ensuing 12 days between the 2nd and the 14th? She told them at the diner that she was making her way back to New Jersey no? I can't remember exactly, but she brought up New Jersey with someone else too.
Edit: NVM. It was the 14th when she was found.