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Wednesday
March 17, 2010 Since 1922 |
Dental adventures here & abroad
By Jane Howard Lee
Contributor Published August 20, 2009 Tonight I am celebrating my secure crown.
No, I haven’t been elevated to British royalty nor have I taken to wearing tiaras regularly just for the fun of it.
A trip to the dentist turned my fear that an old dental crown might be loose and about to crater on me into the good news that the crown was still securely in place and doing what it is supposed to do.
I thought I had a crown problem because I’ve been getting this weird sensation that seemed to come from the area of that crown, which has been in place for something like 12 to 15 years. Every now and then it would feel like cold air on a tooth cavity. It wasn’t painful, just odd. I have friends who have experienced crowns coming off or breaking or just getting loose and rattling a bit and thought that this felt like that might have felt.
It turned out to just be a little inflamed spot behind that crown, probably set off by a the wandering hull of a popcorn kernel. A little clean-out and a bit of medicated goo and it should be just fine.
This was a new dentist for me and while I was nervous about that, my old dentist office closed up shop so I had no choice. I went to my husband’s dentist and was amazed to find that the examination offices all look out through big windows into an enclosed jungle-like paradise. This office has what I guess you’d call an atrium, with a big water feature, koi pond and exotic birds. Oh, and I saw a bunny rabbit wander by as well and I swear the dentist didn’t give me anything that made me imagine that. It was really there. I found it amazing, for a dentist’s office. Very Zen and probably more calming than laughing gas.
Part of the reason I worried about my crown is that my good friends Ken and Linda have been going to Mexico for dental treatment which has included replacing some crowns, and they have given me full reports on their experiences.
They go to Mexico for dental work because it is so inexpensive compared to the costs in this country. They have no dental insurance and they just cannot afford the cost of American dental work in their current financial situation. Since they live near Corpus Christi, it is a reasonable distance to travel for the savings. They drive an hour or so, cross into Mexico, see their dentist, then spend the night in a motel on that side of the border. They always manage to work in a bit of shopping and a few cervezas as well and still end up spending a lot less than they would spend at an American dentist. Whether they get the same quality treatment is not something I can attest to but they say they are quite happy with it.
On their most recent trip, they had to spend a couple of days there because Ken’s treatment required a two visits on consecutive days. They left on Thursday morning, had a bang-up good time and came home late Saturday.
On Monday Linda realized that her wallet was nowhere to be found.
She searched everywhere, backtracked everywhere she had been on Monday and Sunday and decided that she must have left it in Mexico. Of course she canceled her credit cards and called her bank about her debit card but she still wanted to find the wallet.
She called their Mexican dentist’s office but they said they hadn’t found a wallet.
She called the motel with the same results.
A bar where they had spent some time examining the bottom of beer glasses on Friday night also had nothing good to report.
While Linda was on the phone someone kept trying to call, beeping in on their call-waiting service, but she did not interrupt her calls to Mexico to take the other calls.
When she got off the phone she decided to search her purse one more time, hoping to find a receipt from somewhere else they might have gone in Mexico so she could call and see if her wallet was there. At the very bottom on her purse she found a wadded up receipt from the Mexican pharmacy where they had filled a prescription for antibiotics prescribed by the dentist.
She called the number on the receipt and started to explain.
“This is Linda D______ and ..”
She was immediately interrupted.
“Oh Senora D____, we’ve been trying to call you! You left your wallet here in the store on Saturday but there was no phone number in it. We had to wait until your dentist opened this morning to get your telephone number.”
So Ken and Linda made another trip to Mexico on the following weekend and managed to work in another dental visit and a few more cervezas to make it worthwhile.
They picked up her wallet at the pharmacy, where they were greeted like old friends and found every credit card, every dollar and every peso still in the wallet.
Probably not what many of us would expect after losing a wallet in Mexico.
I didn’t expect to see a bunny rabbit hop by while I was sitting in my new dentist’s chair this morning either. Life really is full of surprises.
Contributor Published August 20, 2009 Tonight I am celebrating my secure crown.
No, I haven’t been elevated to British royalty nor have I taken to wearing tiaras regularly just for the fun of it.
A trip to the dentist turned my fear that an old dental crown might be loose and about to crater on me into the good news that the crown was still securely in place and doing what it is supposed to do.
I thought I had a crown problem because I’ve been getting this weird sensation that seemed to come from the area of that crown, which has been in place for something like 12 to 15 years. Every now and then it would feel like cold air on a tooth cavity. It wasn’t painful, just odd. I have friends who have experienced crowns coming off or breaking or just getting loose and rattling a bit and thought that this felt like that might have felt.
It turned out to just be a little inflamed spot behind that crown, probably set off by a the wandering hull of a popcorn kernel. A little clean-out and a bit of medicated goo and it should be just fine.
This was a new dentist for me and while I was nervous about that, my old dentist office closed up shop so I had no choice. I went to my husband’s dentist and was amazed to find that the examination offices all look out through big windows into an enclosed jungle-like paradise. This office has what I guess you’d call an atrium, with a big water feature, koi pond and exotic birds. Oh, and I saw a bunny rabbit wander by as well and I swear the dentist didn’t give me anything that made me imagine that. It was really there. I found it amazing, for a dentist’s office. Very Zen and probably more calming than laughing gas.
Part of the reason I worried about my crown is that my good friends Ken and Linda have been going to Mexico for dental treatment which has included replacing some crowns, and they have given me full reports on their experiences.
They go to Mexico for dental work because it is so inexpensive compared to the costs in this country. They have no dental insurance and they just cannot afford the cost of American dental work in their current financial situation. Since they live near Corpus Christi, it is a reasonable distance to travel for the savings. They drive an hour or so, cross into Mexico, see their dentist, then spend the night in a motel on that side of the border. They always manage to work in a bit of shopping and a few cervezas as well and still end up spending a lot less than they would spend at an American dentist. Whether they get the same quality treatment is not something I can attest to but they say they are quite happy with it.
On their most recent trip, they had to spend a couple of days there because Ken’s treatment required a two visits on consecutive days. They left on Thursday morning, had a bang-up good time and came home late Saturday.
On Monday Linda realized that her wallet was nowhere to be found.
She searched everywhere, backtracked everywhere she had been on Monday and Sunday and decided that she must have left it in Mexico. Of course she canceled her credit cards and called her bank about her debit card but she still wanted to find the wallet.
She called their Mexican dentist’s office but they said they hadn’t found a wallet.
She called the motel with the same results.
A bar where they had spent some time examining the bottom of beer glasses on Friday night also had nothing good to report.
While Linda was on the phone someone kept trying to call, beeping in on their call-waiting service, but she did not interrupt her calls to Mexico to take the other calls.
When she got off the phone she decided to search her purse one more time, hoping to find a receipt from somewhere else they might have gone in Mexico so she could call and see if her wallet was there. At the very bottom on her purse she found a wadded up receipt from the Mexican pharmacy where they had filled a prescription for antibiotics prescribed by the dentist.
She called the number on the receipt and started to explain.
“This is Linda D______ and ..”
She was immediately interrupted.
“Oh Senora D____, we’ve been trying to call you! You left your wallet here in the store on Saturday but there was no phone number in it. We had to wait until your dentist opened this morning to get your telephone number.”
So Ken and Linda made another trip to Mexico on the following weekend and managed to work in another dental visit and a few more cervezas to make it worthwhile.
They picked up her wallet at the pharmacy, where they were greeted like old friends and found every credit card, every dollar and every peso still in the wallet.
Probably not what many of us would expect after losing a wallet in Mexico.
I didn’t expect to see a bunny rabbit hop by while I was sitting in my new dentist’s chair this morning either. Life really is full of surprises.