Some people travel to other countries to try new foods. Some travel to try out new adventures. I seem to travel to other countries and try very peculiar things….like dentists. Last year I had a horrific time with a tooth that broke in Italy and took me 7 trips to 3 dentists in 3 different countries to fix. The whole ordeal makes me shudder just to think about. I have included the story of this unfortunate incident below for those who might not have heard the story. With all this history, you can imagine my dismay when some chips fell out of a tooth in my mouth last weekend. I had been eating a very delicious piece of chicken the day prior (my dental trips usually are the result of some delicious morsel of food that had an ill intent) and had chomped down on a bone that was concealed very cleverly. There did not seem to be any damage so I went on my merry way. The next day as I was brushing my teeth, a chip fell out of my tooth and later another followed. It seemed like deja vu.
Thankfully, it was our travel day and we were on our way to Bangkok, Thailand. I took comfort in the fact that I would be able to find a good dentist there to assess the damage and hoped that it would not be a repeat of my prior experience. Today, I was able to go in and was greeted by the swankiest dentist office I have ever been in (and don't forget, I have been to dentist offices all over the world!). I listened to a lovely rendition of "It's a Small World After All" play as by teeth were x-rayed. The song choice had me laughing which made it hard to hold still as the X-ray machine worked so I had to force myself to think of something sad to stay serious and not move. My exam and consultation with the dentist ended on a glorious note! She said that the chips were in places where they did not require my tooth to need a crown to fix. I could have done a little happy dance had it been appropriate. I am so thankful not to have a chapter two added onto my "Momma Mia!" story below. God is good!
The following story outlines why I have such a fear of dentists.
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I Assisted in my Own Dental Surgery….And Survived! Rome, Italy November 2012
In Rome something quite unfortunate happened. I broke a tooth. As I was eating a lovely piece of pizza, I bit into an olive pit. After two chunks of the tooth fell out I decided that I needed to try and get into a dentist quickly to assess the damage. A survey of the internet came up with several dentists in Rome who spoke good English and were recommended by Expats. I e-mailed several explaining the situation and that I only had a day left in Rome. Within the hour I received a response back from a dentist who said she could get me in the next morning. Yay!
The next morning we were waiting at the gate to the office (located in a gated apartment building) bright and early…no dentist. We asked people going in and out of the gate if the dentist had an office there and were assured that she did and was probably just running late. We sat on the curb and waited. A lady in a sweatsuit with 5 little dogs on leashes eventually came by and we were a bit surprised when she greeted us in English and even more surprised to find out she was the dentist. As she led us into the apartment she explained that her assistant was sick that day and it would be very hard for her to do anything to help me but we would look at the tooth and she would do her best.
After seating me in the chair she continued to tell me about how horrible it would be for us since her assistant was gone and that she didn’t know where to find anything. She spent a while digging through drawers and eventually was able to find what she wanted. At this point my confidence was starting to waver a bit. Having no choice, I opened my mouth when ordered to do so and was met with a “Momma Mia!” as she probed around in my mouth. This was accompanied with an “It’s very bad!” Lacking an assistant, she handed me a mirror to hold so that I could see what she was talking about and she explained that I had fractured the tooth badly and that it was fractured beyond the gum line. As she showed me, another large chunk of my tooth decided to fall out and join the others. The dentist continued to show me the problem on the X-ray that she had taken.
The next news was a bit more than I could bear under the circumstances as she told me that I needed emergency dental surgery right away. She told me that it would be extremely hard but I needed to have something done since my tooth was broken right next to the nerve and couldn’t be left. She also assured me that her brother was a dental surgeon who had studied in America and that he just happened to be in Rome. While she called her brother to check if he could perform the dental surgery, I went into the other room to talk to Emily. Of course at this point I burst into tears. Not only is it bad enough to be terrified of any dentist but now I was in a foreign country with a dentist who had no assistant, kept assuring me how hard the procedure would be by herself, and who wanted to perform a surgery where she was going to cut into my mouth.
Upon returning to the room, the dentist glanced at me and told me that it was really silly to cry. Her brother was able to come over and do the procedure right away so we had to get my mouth prepped. Without any other option, I resigned myself to the fact and let myself be led back to the chair feeling like an animal being prepped for slaughter. When her brother arrived some of my fears were relieved. He told me that he had obtained his second dental degree from California where he had lived for many years and that the fracture was beyond my gum so they had to make some incisions to find out how deep it went. He was very calm and preformed this quickly while removing a bit of bone that was fractured and then sutured my gum back up. He then went on his merry way leaving his sister to make a temporary crown for my tooth to get me through the rest of my trip. This is where the real fun started.
I guess that it really is quite difficult to do any type of dental procedure by ones self. The dentist kept trying to lure Emily into the room but she was having none of it. With this being the case, she handed me the thing that vacuums the liquid out of your mouth and told me to hold it just so. This is much harder than one might imagine as your head is propped back and your mouth stretched open. The angle is not great for seeing or knowing where to place things in your own mouth. She kept telling me that I was getting it in her way and to hold it “just so!” I obviously do not make a good dental assistant. As if this was not bad enough she handed me a tool for my other hand and placed it where she wanted it and told me not to budge because she was performing a very dangerous procedure. This was accompanied by many a “Momma Mia!” Throughout the whole time she continued to bark at me to hold my mouth open wider and not to let the tools I was assisting to hold in my own mouth slip. At this point my mouth had been stretched open for over 4 hours and was having a hard time maintaining the pose. For fear of having the procedure not work and have to start all over again I was able to will to stay open until she was finished and took the tools out of my hands.
The entire time she muttered was clearly unhappy. She finally made the temporary crown and polished it on her pant leg before cementing it in my mouth.
I was so thankful to be done. My experience did not help my fear of dentists and I learned that I have no desire to be a dental assistant (especially on myself).
I later had to go to the dentist in two other countries to finish the work on my tooth.
