Dentistry in the Land of Tomorrow?

Maybe it was bloody smock on the dentist, or the fact that, as a sole concession to cleanliness, she turned the spit-stained gloves she was wearing inside out before examining me?

But I was nervous.

And the crusty pick with the head like the ball of a mace? The one she was trying to cram into my mouth?

Did not make me any calmer.

I woke up screaming..

Cool.. day to go to the dentist and it began with a dream like that.

As a bonus, I had a cold. Class went by quickly and then I slammed down two Nyquil as the idea of drowning in a pool of my own snot while some strange woman had two fists halfway into my larynx was not appealing. Well, it was kind of appealing, but I had the feeling the actual dentist would be dressed and probably not have ambiguous genitalia.

I hopped into the subway and headed for the wrong station.

This meant that the map I held in my sweaty palm was pretty useless. I finally figured out I needed to hop back on the subway and got to the right station. Here, the map made much more sense, and I ended up at the dentist’s office.

Which was AWESOME. Super new equipment, English speaking staff, and the dentist is the wife of a friend of mine.

Some technology I had not yet experienced. The X-ray was taken all at once with a rotary X-ray machine and then went straight to the monitor in front of the chair I was in. They also took photos inside the mouth of all my fillings. When it came time to test my bad tooth, I held a metal rod in my right hand while some cool gizmo shot electricity into my teefs. The bad tooth felt no shock, so the pulp (or something) was dead.

Dentist says, “root canal” and I start preparing (I was a Boy Scout, you see) to pee myself. She looks at the clock and says, “it will take about 20 minutes, can you wait?”

I’m quite happy with that and say yes. They also give me painkiller without using a needle. I’m not sure how that was done, but it was the first time it ever happened to me.

20 minutes later and the whole thing is done.

I walk out and make another appointment (for there is more to do). The receptionist quotes the bill..

Wha?!?!!?…. I heard “man…” something, something… Holy crap! “man” is 10,000 in Korean and my brain can’t assemble a number (in Korea) that starts with “man” that isn’t the price of a major appliance.

I get the bill and I’ve heard her properly, just not how little came after the “man.” The bill is 11,800 …. Pennies!!! Won!

I just had all of this work done for $10, US.

Amazing… fast, efficient, clean, painless, and unbelievably cheap.

US dental care is fucked up!