To dentist, to dentist, to fill a sore tooth...

Well, I had my first run in with Korean dentistry last week. I found a cavity near the root of one of my constantly shifting wisdom teeth. This time when it resurfaced there was a very sensitive cavity that wanted some attention. I was told we don't have dental insurance and panicked for a bit, but then the secretary said it should only cost about 70 000 (80 some odd Dollars), so I calmed down. The dentist office had a gorgeous waiting room, reminiscent of those found in fancy hotels, and the treatment area had chairs all lined up with their own personal flat screen TV's attached, you could change the volume or channel and watch that to distract you. The dentist had really good English certainly eased my fears, then he told me that he could pull it or fill it for about the same price, 25 000 Won, less than 30 $, and this is a wisdom tooth!

I might get them all taken out before I com home, for less than 150$ all said and done. I chose the filling because a dentist back home had told me not to pull a wisdom tooth on the bottom without pulling the one on the top to, and vice versa. Just before he was about to do the filling it came to mind that the kids here all have silver and gold fillings, and I prefer white ones, but he assured me that it was so far back no one would ever see it, and he was right. I guess the 70 000 Won filling would be white and that's why it cost more.

The actual drilling/filling part took less than one minute, after I watched TV for a few minutes to let the numbing agent set in, and I was done before I realized that he had put on the shiny new exterior of my tooth. I booked a cleaning through him for this week and was surprised to learn that it cost more than twice as much.

I went and paid the 60 000 Won, ($70+) and got my teeth scaled, but that didn't include any polishing or fluoride, maybe this is why the children teeth are so bad here, no fluoride...

Well, they didn't feel as smooth as back home, but they did a great job of removing plaque, and I'm happy to say that there were no new cavities, although I did get a warning about my other top wisdom tooth, it's barely out of the gums and he warned me that it could cause me problems later on, with food getting trapped or swelling and said I should pull it if I have any pain. Maybe these guys get commission for gold teeth and he thought, "Gee... a teacher...ka ching!!!" He was very good though and I'll recommend him if anyone else at my school is looking. One of my student's father works at the same clinic, but I didn't get a chance to say hi, the kid wants to be a dentist like his dad and even said his speech about how he wants to be a dentist when he grows up, how sweet, eh?