Haisha, or Angelina After Dentist
So an interesting (?) factoid about myself I like to tell people is that I have a half-fake tooth. But that is no longer true! I now have a 3/4 fake tooth! Possibly even 4/5, not really sure.
When I was 9 or 10 my brother and I had a minor bike accident and I somehow managed to crack off the bottom of one of my (permanant) front teeth. Luckily the root was intact, and the dentist was able to rebuild it with porcelain or whatever they use.
But over the years it would wear down and chip, I'd have to get it rebuilt every now and again and it was just a general nuisance. So when I was in university I finally asked about getting it capped. My dad's insurance said they wouldn't cover it (as it's cosmetic) and I didn't have the $1000 myself to pay for it. So I got it rebuilt again.
And now, seeing as I'm leaving Japan in the summer, and with it the best salary I've ever had, it seemed prudent to try and get it fixed now. Also, my tooth had gotten really chipped recently and was actually throbbing a lot. And finally I'd heard that, while terrifying, Japanese dentistry is super cheap. Well, I like a bargain, so my supervisor and I found a dentist and went for a preliminary appointment.
Visit 1
The dentist is an older man and a little gruff but very nice. He was pleased that I was his first Canadian patient. He was also shocked that I hadn't been able to get a cap in Canada due to cost. And when I was worried about being able to pay for it right then (as I only get paid once a month), he laughed at me and was basically like "Oh Canadians, that's not how we do it here, pay when you can pay". They took casts and x-rays of my teeth and we made a second appointment. I was told it would only take 2 visits. Consultation cost: $5.
Visit 2
I was expecting them to begin the capping process, but when I arrived I was informed that my tooth pain was actually a problem. Now, I had a translator with me, but even with dictionaries she was only able to get the gist across, since she didn't know the English medical terms for procedures. "They want to take your nerve out." "My, my nerve? What?" "They want to make your tooth empty, take the nerve". And I'll admit that I almost called it off. I wanted to believe that this guy knows what he's doing, but I had horrible visions of some jury-rigged procedure that I'd then have to get fixed in Canada. I agreed to it, but with such panic in my voice that they all thought I was afraid of pain. They froze me and then they...gave me a surprise root canal!! Which...well, if I'd known going in what they were planning I would have been both less and more stressed, seeing how that procedure is so talked up as being The Worst. So it being a surprise was probably for the best. It felt super weird. They finished up, plugged the hole and said they'd see me in a few days. Root Canal cost: $16.60.
Visit 3
I wasn't sure what they were planning for this visit, but I was already feeling kind of genki about it, like "Let's do this!". Then they proceeded to hollow out my tooth more. They didn't freeze me this time, though, which wasn't actually a problem since: hey, no nerve!". It took them a while, and at one point when they made me rinse my mouth out my tongue touched the back of my tooth and - empty! Auuugh, that felt so exeedingly bizarre. They hollowed it out a LOT, and then plugged it with temporary cement. When I bit into it the excess made a kind of ridge, so for a few days I had a tooth that felt more like a molar, and I (to myself) called it my shark tooth. Tooth Hollowing cost: $1.50.
Visit 4
This was the worst, by far. To prepare my tooth for the cap they basically had to whittle it down to child-size. This took two hours. They froze me again this time, but there was so much pressure on the roof of my mouth that I still have a headache today. I did my best to power through (no other coice), but I had a horrible, horrible moment. I was breathing through my noze and all was fine, but suddenly I started realizing that I was getting a bit stuffed up from my head being tilted back for so long, and my throat was full of water. I tried to swallow and cough a bit to clear it, and breathe evenly through my nose, but the panic took over and for a second I started to choke. I kind of gurgled and they let me sit up to spit and gasp. The dentist was like "did you forget we told you to signal with your hand if you were in trouble?". Yes, I did.
Oh, but it wasn't over. They were only about half done then, so they continued, but with more frequent breaks. Once water poured out of my mouth and down my neck, and another time it poured up over my face and into my eye. Lovely. When they finished the whittling he let me take a look in the mirror. It was horrible - it looked like a little troll tooth. And with a grin he was like "Wanna go home like that?"
Then I was moved to another chair, and spent some more time getting poked at, but this time with a horrible, burn-y smelling chemical that stung when it touched the non-frozen places in my mouth. The assistant was fashioning a temporary tooth cap for me and I got to wait while she filed it down (many, many, many times) to ensure it would fit in my mouth. Oh, and they all had an argument over what colour they should use, of their available loner teeth. Unfortunately my teeth are too white compared to all the samples they had, so when she finally finished and placed the cap I was left with a yellower tooth than I'd hoped. It's only until Monday though, at which time they'll put in the permanant cap. Oh, and this loner tooth, to prevent me from knocking it out by biting into food, is shorter than the other, completely smooth at the back, and actually kinda sharp. It's too short for me to cut my lip, but dang does it feel weird.
So don't expect any big smiles out of me this weekend. Oh, and Tooth Whittling Plus Temporary Loner Cap cost: $6.60. FTW.
And a parting gift, to display my mood today:
When I was 9 or 10 my brother and I had a minor bike accident and I somehow managed to crack off the bottom of one of my (permanant) front teeth. Luckily the root was intact, and the dentist was able to rebuild it with porcelain or whatever they use.
But over the years it would wear down and chip, I'd have to get it rebuilt every now and again and it was just a general nuisance. So when I was in university I finally asked about getting it capped. My dad's insurance said they wouldn't cover it (as it's cosmetic) and I didn't have the $1000 myself to pay for it. So I got it rebuilt again.
And now, seeing as I'm leaving Japan in the summer, and with it the best salary I've ever had, it seemed prudent to try and get it fixed now. Also, my tooth had gotten really chipped recently and was actually throbbing a lot. And finally I'd heard that, while terrifying, Japanese dentistry is super cheap. Well, I like a bargain, so my supervisor and I found a dentist and went for a preliminary appointment.
Visit 1
The dentist is an older man and a little gruff but very nice. He was pleased that I was his first Canadian patient. He was also shocked that I hadn't been able to get a cap in Canada due to cost. And when I was worried about being able to pay for it right then (as I only get paid once a month), he laughed at me and was basically like "Oh Canadians, that's not how we do it here, pay when you can pay". They took casts and x-rays of my teeth and we made a second appointment. I was told it would only take 2 visits. Consultation cost: $5.
Visit 2
I was expecting them to begin the capping process, but when I arrived I was informed that my tooth pain was actually a problem. Now, I had a translator with me, but even with dictionaries she was only able to get the gist across, since she didn't know the English medical terms for procedures. "They want to take your nerve out." "My, my nerve? What?" "They want to make your tooth empty, take the nerve". And I'll admit that I almost called it off. I wanted to believe that this guy knows what he's doing, but I had horrible visions of some jury-rigged procedure that I'd then have to get fixed in Canada. I agreed to it, but with such panic in my voice that they all thought I was afraid of pain. They froze me and then they...gave me a surprise root canal!! Which...well, if I'd known going in what they were planning I would have been both less and more stressed, seeing how that procedure is so talked up as being The Worst. So it being a surprise was probably for the best. It felt super weird. They finished up, plugged the hole and said they'd see me in a few days. Root Canal cost: $16.60.
Visit 3
I wasn't sure what they were planning for this visit, but I was already feeling kind of genki about it, like "Let's do this!". Then they proceeded to hollow out my tooth more. They didn't freeze me this time, though, which wasn't actually a problem since: hey, no nerve!". It took them a while, and at one point when they made me rinse my mouth out my tongue touched the back of my tooth and - empty! Auuugh, that felt so exeedingly bizarre. They hollowed it out a LOT, and then plugged it with temporary cement. When I bit into it the excess made a kind of ridge, so for a few days I had a tooth that felt more like a molar, and I (to myself) called it my shark tooth. Tooth Hollowing cost: $1.50.
Visit 4
This was the worst, by far. To prepare my tooth for the cap they basically had to whittle it down to child-size. This took two hours. They froze me again this time, but there was so much pressure on the roof of my mouth that I still have a headache today. I did my best to power through (no other coice), but I had a horrible, horrible moment. I was breathing through my noze and all was fine, but suddenly I started realizing that I was getting a bit stuffed up from my head being tilted back for so long, and my throat was full of water. I tried to swallow and cough a bit to clear it, and breathe evenly through my nose, but the panic took over and for a second I started to choke. I kind of gurgled and they let me sit up to spit and gasp. The dentist was like "did you forget we told you to signal with your hand if you were in trouble?". Yes, I did.
Oh, but it wasn't over. They were only about half done then, so they continued, but with more frequent breaks. Once water poured out of my mouth and down my neck, and another time it poured up over my face and into my eye. Lovely. When they finished the whittling he let me take a look in the mirror. It was horrible - it looked like a little troll tooth. And with a grin he was like "Wanna go home like that?"
Then I was moved to another chair, and spent some more time getting poked at, but this time with a horrible, burn-y smelling chemical that stung when it touched the non-frozen places in my mouth. The assistant was fashioning a temporary tooth cap for me and I got to wait while she filed it down (many, many, many times) to ensure it would fit in my mouth. Oh, and they all had an argument over what colour they should use, of their available loner teeth. Unfortunately my teeth are too white compared to all the samples they had, so when she finally finished and placed the cap I was left with a yellower tooth than I'd hoped. It's only until Monday though, at which time they'll put in the permanant cap. Oh, and this loner tooth, to prevent me from knocking it out by biting into food, is shorter than the other, completely smooth at the back, and actually kinda sharp. It's too short for me to cut my lip, but dang does it feel weird.
So don't expect any big smiles out of me this weekend. Oh, and Tooth Whittling Plus Temporary Loner Cap cost: $6.60. FTW.
And a parting gift, to display my mood today:
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