My New Tooth


We live in a big city now. I took advantage of one of the perks last week by going to a good dentist. I needed a porcelain cap on one of my molars.

[My wife would have already stopped reading this story. She hates tooth stories. She even has nightmares about teeth. So, I'll understand if you decide to stop reading and click on our pictures link instead]

I picked a dentist on a busy street. Using very scientific criteria I scanned all of the dentist offices on the street and rang the bell of the one with the nicest sign. His office is in an apartment building... I think he lives in the same apartment as his office. Before I walked in I had to put on plastic "booties" over my shoes. In a normal Turkish house you would take off your shoes, but this is a business as well, so the booties are sort of a compromise...

I walked into the apartment where the dentist's son was eating lunch on the couch. I waved and said hello as I was directed downstairs. Plastic booties make a lot of noise when you walk.

The downstairs looked a lot more like a dentist office. I sat in the chair and the dentist and his assistant went to work. The equipment was much more high-tech than my dentist's back in the U.S. First he took a full color video of the inside of my mouth with a special dental camera. There was a huge monitor suspended over the chair for me and the dentist to watch. It was gross. He also took an x-ray and eventually did a couple wax molds of my mouth using flavored wax.

Having discovered the problem tooth and decided on a course of action the dentist and his assistant went to work. I'll spare you those details except to say that while the dentist was busy drilling and scraping his son came down to play some computer games in the office area where I was being worked on. As he opened up the game, it was being displayed on the monitor suspended over my chair. So, I watched him kill bad guys for a while and then he started working on his simulated city. The dentist seemed proud of his son's video game prowess as he divided his attention between my tooth and the monitor.

The dentist announced that I would get a temporary plastic cap later that afternoon and the porcelain one would be ready in a week. The whole thing, including several visits for "fittings" to make sure the porcelain one was just right, would cost me 190 Turkish lira, about $140. I had to ask several times to make sure that was the total cost.

Before I left he tried to get me to sign up for Amway. During my next visit I sat on the couch wearing plastic booties while he gave me the Amway presentation in Turkish. "Interesting," I said.

After several visits I now have a new porcelain cap on my molar. It's like that feeling that you get when you buy a new cell phone or a new pair of shoes. I have a new tooth.

Comments

doro said…
i'm glad that you are all safely settled into your new home. murray told me what happened and i prayed for your a lot. i will continue to do so! please tell your dear wife hello for me.
June 23, 2007 at 5:38 PM
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