For longer than I can remember my financial situation has not been good enough for the annual dental check-up. However, I figured in China it should be a lot cheaper so I bit the bullet (so to speak) and went with my friend (providing moral support,) to the dentist to make an appointment. Having answered numerous medical questions and filled in the registration form I asked the receptionist how much it was to have a check up and to get my teeth cleaned and polished. “There are two services. One is 300 and one is 450”
“What’s the difference between the two services?” “One is more painful than the other” “Which one is the least painful?” “The one which is 450” “Does it still hurt?” “A bit” “Oh, I was hoping for a pain-free consultation and cleaning” “Well the 450 one is the one with less pain” “Sounds just the job! Can I make an appointment” “We can do it now”
I was a little reluctant because I had just had my lunch and had not prepared myself for dental treatment. I was then taken into a consultation room where I was introduced to a pleasant young female dentist who had a look around in my mouth prodding and probing. “You have a broken tooth” “Yes, I broke it eating a piece of date and walnut bread about 4 months ago” “It needs to be seen to immediately” I was concerned “But it has been like this for months and it doesn’t hurt”
She then went on to tell me all the bad things which could happen as a result of me not getting it seen to and how painful those things were. “How much is it going to cost to get it fixed?” I was a little worried about the apparent urgency of the situation. “It depends what you want. You could have a metal tooth. That would be best” “There’s now way I am having a metal tooth” “…or we could do a crown which looks the same colour as your other teeth” “That sounds better” “About 3000 (£300) Still wondering whether she was exaggerating the urgency of my broken tooth, I was led into something called the “VIP Planting room” where another girl attended to my teeth.
There were 4 stages to the “pain-free” cleaning. Firstly the girl hung a “spit sucker” instrument over my bottom lip and whizzed round my teeth with an electric scraping tool. She blindfolded me and all I could hear was the sound of more tools being prepared. Then she started up what can only be described as a sand blaster which bombarded my teeth with minuscule bits of grit.
The spit sucker machine still doing it’s job, remained hanging over my lip. After that, still blindfolded a high pressure machine blew all the remaining sand from between my teeth and occasionally and most painfully, against my lips and gums. Finally a rinse and cleaning and my blindfold was removed. And like at the hairdressers I was handed a mirror to have a look at the front of the teeth and then an angled mirror which I was encouraged to stick in my mouth to see the backs of the teeth.
The jury’s still out on the tooth fix though. I have suspicions that whenever a laowai comes into the place their eyes light up with dollar signs. Little do they realise that not all of us come equipped with huge amounts of health insurance and fat corporate pay packets.
So I will put up with the chipped tooth for a few months yet, but my teeth sparkle like they haven’t sparkled for years.
So I will put up with the chipped tooth for a few months yet, but my teeth sparkle like they haven’t sparkled for years.