So… I visited the dentist after like 35703574 years (ok, just 6. Ok, it’s not ‘just’) and I want to go to that corner of my tiny flat again and howl to my neighbours in other minuscular apartments that’s like 10cm away from my building.
I spent S$800 for a bloody dental visit!!!! And I didn’t even have a single tooth extraction to incur so much. So this is what happened:
I arrived for my appointment and got ushered into that horrifying reclining chair and I was actually reallyyyy nervous cos I know it’s been so long since I got my teeth cleaned and the back areas have been experiencing some sensitivity of late and I was introduced to the ‘hygienst’.
Apparently, she’s the one who scales and polishes the teeth, not the dentist. Is that some Hong Kong dental culture?!? So posh one.
And she went on to spend the next 45 minutes just cleaning my teeth. To give her credit, she was extremely thoughtful and kept asking me if I was fine. The flat screen above me was showing Just For Laughs and I reckoned it’s not a good idea to show that at all! At one point, I was so amused by a clip, I almost choked on the gunk in my mouth. BAH. NOT. A. GOOD. IDEA.
The ‘hygienist’ then told me “you have to floss your teeth every day!” and I looked at her in complete embarrassment. And she went on to show me exactly how to do it. Before I got to the clinic, I was hoping the dentist wouldn’t do that humiliating deed by showing me how to brush my teeth using that fake molar model or showing me the right way of flossing and there she went! Damnit!
But well, she meant well and truth be told, I didn’t know that was the right way to floss! So, guess it’s a good thing???
I was done and I thought “yayy! I can leave now!” when she told me to wait for the dentist. OH. I thought only scaling and polishing? So I waited another 45 minutes for the dentist and she’s this really sweet and maternal middle-aged lady who spoke with an English accent.
But it wasn’t so sweet to hear her tell me I have three cavities, four wisdom teeth growing with one needing extraction really soon. Of the three cavities, one was apparently quite serious and I was “fortunate that we discovered it now cos the cavity’s really close to the nerve.” O_o
To get a clearer look, she proceeded to give me two X-rays. Then went on to give me three anesthesia injections and three fillings. It was soooo weird after cos I couldn’t feel the right side of my cheek. When I was waiting for the elevator after the dental visit, I had a random thought that I probably wouldn’t feel anything if someone was to slap me on my right cheek. Not that I wanna be slapped…
Anyhow, three fillings and loads of “are you ok?” and “you poor thing” later, the rather painless (except the injections! I hardly flinched from injections but I did during then!) experience was over!
Then she told me I needed to get a wisdom tooth out ASAP cos it was growing diagonally and obstructing the cleaning of my back teeth. But she couldn’t get a good look and sent me to another clinic in the same building for a 360 degrees X-ray cos she was worried she might have to send me to the hospital for the extraction. So I went, came back and another dentist came in to take a look and said it shouldn’t be a problem.
Two and a half hours later, I could finally go! When the receptionist told me it was HK$4,080, I was trying not to burst into tears. I thought I could probably claim at least half of it but turned out I think I could only get S$250 out of the S$800 and that’s S$550… And there’s still that wisdom tooth extract which would cost S$500, of which only S$140 can be claimed… :’(
I tell myself money can be earned again but good teeth can’t… I tell myself that again and again and again… And also that I need to floss every single night. I must floss every single night…
