Braving the Dentist

After many nights of prodding, nagging, and complaining, I finally talked Chitrak into visiting the dentist.

After writing about my dentist experience, Chitrak told me he took a photo of me to add to my blog... thanks, honey....

OK.  I won't lie, it took a little self-prepping.  I have personally been dragging this out for over a year now.  In the US, we were lured into Aspen Dental, which was covered by our insurance provider.  At the time, it seemed like the perfect match for us.  Chitrak was searching for a new job, and we wanted a dentist that could easily transfer paperwork.  Unfortunately, we learned far too late that the dentist was more eager for our pocket book than fixing tooth problems.  Young and naive, we listened to the hygienist and dentist, and we were convinced that all of our treatments must be done immediately.  Fix your cavities, scrape your gums, clean with fluoride, buy our special toothpaste, brushes, and mouth rinse...  our bill was enormous, and we hadn't even spoke of pulling out our wisdom teeth.


You must have this done if you want us to work on your teeth, they told us.

And who refuses a beautiful, healthy smile?  So, we gave in, and completed most of the treatments.

A "fishbowl dentist"

Now you are probably thinking, you have been living abroad for 7 months, why haven't you been to the dentist?  Well, besides the terrible experience we had encountered with Aspen, I have been a little cautious of jumping into the whole China-dentist experience.  First of all, I am not particularly fond of people working on my teeth.  Secondly, I would be lucky to find an English speaking doctor.  And most importantly, the dentist offices I've seen in China have "fish bowl windows" where patients are put on display for all passerbies to see.  It is almost like watching a live television show where the characters perform opposite a thick piece of glass.  Picture this:  blonde girl, ghostly white, clenching her fists in painful anticipation, while a large audience gathers outside the window.

I don't think so.

If this wasn't bad enough, there are many dentists like the one near our apartment complex.  The man is not only a fishbowl window dentist, but he is also a part-time electrician.  I want my dentist to be an expert in the field of tooth work, not a jack-of-all-trades.  I was beginning to think I would have to research a western dentist in Shanghai... this might turn out to be more expensive than dental care in the US...

About a month ago, a friend had told me about Asia Dental, a Taiwanese company located on the east end of town.  She told me that almost all the foreign teachers go here to get their work done.  I wasn't going to take any chances though, so I took a trip to personally inspect it.

It wasn't too far from our home, but most importantly, there was no NO fishbowl window.  Also, the dentist and nurses could communicate in English.  What a relief!  When I arrived, the receptionist greeted me with a smile, and after asking her some questions about my teeth, she sent the dentist to speak with me.


How much is it to clean my teeth?  I asked.  100 rmb, he said.

I almost fell over.  Can you imagine only paying $15 for a dental cleaning?  But wait, it gets better.  How much to pull all 4 wisdom teeth?  

Now remember, these figures are all without insurance......  

......400 rmb.... That means, to get all four wisdom teeth removed would be a whopping $60.  Think about it:  it is actually cheaper to fly to China for vacation, get those pearly whites pulled out of your mouth by Asia Dental, and then fly home.

Oh, yeah.





So, we planned last Monday night to get the cleaning.  Chitrak picked me up from school, and his driver took us across town to Asia Dental.  I gave the business card to the driver so he could read the address and take us to our destination.

A "taxi card."  This tells the driver in Chinese where to go.

On the back of taxi cards, there is usually a picture of the streets to help the driver.

Although the buildings were lit up in neon lights as if we were on the Vegas strip, I had a difficult time locating Asia Dental.  By this time, Kunshan was pitch black, and it had been raining for quite some time.  I squinted out the window to see if I could recognize the area, but all the shops looked the same.

"It's there!  Ting, ting!"  I yelled to the driver.  (In Chinese, ting means stop.)  We had almost passed the office.  The only way I had identified the shop was seeing "Asia Dental" in small print on the name board.

We got out of the car and opened the door to the waiting room.

We had not made an appointment. Our procrastination had gone on for quite some time now, why not a few more days?  Content with just scheduling a cleaning, we walked up to the receptionist.  Nihao, can we have our teeth cleaned?  She asked us to wait a moment, gave us some paperwork to fill out, and not more than 5 minutes later, we were escorted to the back room and given a chair.

There were at least eight work spaces, each equipped with flat screen TVs for patient entertainment.  It was well staffed, mostly women in blue outfits, black shoes, and uniformed buns.  The decor looked like a flashback from the 80s, but the equipment was modern and sterilized.  The walls surrounding each stall were about waist high.

The chair reclined, and the hygienist got to work.  First, she got out the drill and ran along the tops, bottoms, and insides or my teeth.  It was very scary, not because she was sawing my teeth into short stumps of nothingness, but for the mere fact that I had no idea what was going on, or what would happen next... and I'm a little afraid of the drill...

When the drill runs, it squirts water into your mouth.  The dentist usually lets you hold an instrument that will suck all the water out so you can breathe.  I call this contraption "the sucker." I realize how childish this might sound, but I always look forward to holding the sucker in my mouth so I know I won't choke, because of instances such as this:

So I'm sitting in the chair, and the nurse bends "the sucker" into a candy cane shape and hangs it on the outside of my mouth.  It is evident that "the sucker" was not functioning properly by the noises it was making.    Because it was bent, hardly any of the water was allowed into the tube to be sucked up the pipe.  Water began to fill my mouth, without any opportunity to escape.  I couldn't hold it anymore, choking on the water, I quickly sat up and spat in the sink.  Why did I wear mascara today?  Water was now all over the towel they had laid across me, in my hair, and all over my face.

But, everything from then on was easy.  She glossed my teeth with fluoride, I rinsed with water, and was done.

How many cavities do I have?  I asked, hoping she will tell me that the tooth bothering me needs fixed.

She looked at me and said, Just little cavities.  Little.  Her index finger met her thumb with an almost nonexistent space in between.  I dropped the conversation after trying a few different ways to explain to her why I wanted to know.  Chitrak had his cleaning, a much stronger person than I, and finished.  When Chitrak asked how many cavities he had, the woman responded, You have more cavities than her.

Our reciept, about $40 US Dollars.

We paid and left.  It was then that I realized we hadn't discussed our next visit.  When must I return for another cleaning?  When should I have these cavities looked at?  Should I get an x-ray?  What about these wisdom teeth?

I have come to realize that a dental cleaning in China really means just a cleaning.  There's no x-ray or discussion on how to care for your teeth.  There was no discussion of options and payment plans, no special toothpaste or brushes that are clinically proven to work.

The staff was very nice, but as it is, communicating in English will continue to be an ongoing struggle.  Unfortunately, I know must go back, and  brave the dentist again for cavities and wisdom teeth.  Eck...