The Dentist- Part Two

I learned tonight that there are both positives and negatives of going to a dentist in a foreign country. Dental insurance is not typically included in health insurance, so not many people go every 6 months like I'm used to back home. After my experience, I'm not sure if I'll go back again, or if I will just wait until I get back to the states this summer.

Positives:

1. Hours. I went at 7:45 pm, and the office was still open. True, it was only the hygenist (the PE teachers younger sister) and the receptionist. But still, what dental clinic do you know that is open that late?

2. Cost. Mihey said that I may be able to get the cleaning done for free because I'm American. And guess what, I did! That saved me about 50,000 won or about $45.

3. Face mask. Instead of getting water splashed on my face, I had a towel draped over my face with a hole for my mouth and nose. I wish they had those back home.

Negatives:

1. No free tootpaste, toothbrush, or floss. Enough said.

2. No private rooms. The denist I went to back in the states had private rooms for each patient. Here, I was reminded of many trips I took to the orthodintist where everyone sat in a row in the same room. It was just different.

3. Not being able to communicate. It didn't take long to figure out what "ahhh" meant, and I did figure out "bite" (ang). I did hear a lot of "are you okay?" (kenchanyo?) I wanted to ask a lot of questions about what was going on (see below) but didn't know how to ask.

4. Not knowing what was going on. The hygentist did say "ipuda" (beautiful) a lot, but I'm not sure if she was referring to my teeth. Once the basic cleaning was done, she took out a drill!! I was sooo worried! I've never had a cavity before, and I was positive once I saw the drill I had one! Oh no! She took the drill to one of my upper molars, and the buzzing started. The strange thing was that it didn't hurt. I reminded me of the noise my electric nail filer makes. She would periodically as "are you okay?" and I would nod, even though I was freaking out inside. Did I have a cavity? Why didn't I get novicane? What if they gave me a gold filling, when maybed I wanted silver, if I had to get on? How much was this going to cost? All these questions went unanswered. Soon, the receptionist came over to help hold a heat lamp and a variety of other tools in my mouth. My tongue accidentally on purpose touched the tooth to see what was going on, and I tasted a metalic paste. Ewww. After about 10 minutes of working on this one tooth, I was rinsed and dried. The PE teacher came over to get me, I said thank you and bowed, and left.

Summary: As soon as I got home, I immediately went to my mirror to check out the damage to my molar. Suprisingly, nothing was there! No silver, no gold. Phew. Now when I run my tongue over it, I'm not sure if I'm being paranoid about it that makes it seem like it feels different, or if there reallly is something noticeable there. If it was a cavity, thats pretty cool that I had it taken care of for free! I'm going to ask Mihey tomorrow to see if she can explain to me what I had done!