The Dental Experience
Long-time readers will recall my medical experience in Armenia last fall that resulted in 2 months long mis-diagnosis and false treatment of my E. coli. Well, I have another practice to blog about now.
After my mishap on the waterfall, I had my share of dentist consultants as well. Similarities in the experience were competition. Every doctor claimed to be the right one and that all others were lying or uneducated. The bonus is that at the very least, they seemed to know what they were doing for the most part. Better yet, there were more selections to choose from.
So I went to the first dentist (I'll refrain from naming them, ask me personally if you want more info) who gave me two options: filling and restoration or crowns. He seemed eager to do the filling, but wasn't going to charge me for it because he couldn't guarantee satisfaction. As nice as he seemed, this was not encouraging. I continued to the next recommendation. They presented the same options on a higher end, but I pushed for the most promising one to avoid mess ups... I said let's go with the crowns to avoid the not so reliable option. They continued to tell me that it would require 3 root canals. AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!! I've been avoiding those all my life and now I have to get 3 in Armenia? Oh boy was I freaked out, but I agreed.
I went in with an appointment 5 days after the accident as they recommended, so that the swelling would go down and settle. Don't know why this helped, but I continued to look like a moron with chipped teeth all along. That's okay, they promised to give me a temporary thing that day to make me look ok.
So I sat in "the chair" and they couldn't have been nicer. They offered headphones to distract me from the work they did, shot me with that numbing stuff, so my entire upperlip to mt nose was numb and I didn't feel a thing the whole time. The only horror I faced was that while they were drilling, a Celine Dion song came on and I had no way of getting out of it... like torture. But I coped just fine and experienced no pain through the process. I continued to ask, "so what about that temporary thing you offered to give so I don't look like an idiot anymore?" They told me that they can't do that right now, they need the teeth open. ARG!!! This was on a Friday, so I had to go through another weekend of stupid chipped tooth look.
As I'm walking back to work, I run into a good ol' friend and gave the dental update. He asked me where I went, so I told him. The reaction I got was the worst I could ask for. He was horrified and highly recommended not going back there. Apparently he also had a filling done there that led to months of pain due to sloppy work and had to go elsewhere to get it fixed. Just when I thought I was in good hands.
Given the source who's opinion I highly respect, I decided to try his guy. I waited until Monday (which is when my next appointment was scheduled) and dropped by in the morning. He said he just had another patient from that same place come to him to fix his problems. Again, the competitive edge came out. I told him they did root canals and he reacted as if I said the US launched nuclear bombs straight for Yerevan. WHAT?!?!?! Why did they do such a thing? That's crazy!
Well, they might not be the most professional, but I figured if he could do a good job for my friend, he's worth a shot. I scheduled an appointment for Wednesday (10 days after the accident) and continued another 2 days looking like an idiot. Finally, I went in. The assistant was not so clever, but the dentist seemed to be determined to restore my tooth with filling to be perfect. 2 hours and quite a bit of pain later, he hands me the mirror. I felt like I was in a movie. It was like art... the man had painted a picasso in my mouth! It's almost impossible to tell that it's not real at all. It matches my other teeth completely, looks completely natural, and even has the same quality. It might even be better than the tooth I had before.
Now I have to go back on Friday to fix the second, and then later the third (which is just cracked). But at the very least, I don't look like an idiot anymore. Best part is, I don't have dental insurance and it was CHEEEEEAAAAAPPPPP!!!!! (Relatively of course)
So there's my dental story. I hope it encourages you all to travel to Armenia to get dental work done. I just recommend you get lots of opinions and as around, see who does what work well. They might be good, but only at one thing. This guy does fillings really well, this guy does cleanings, this one does great root canals, etc. etc. You get my drift, eh?
More on tooth 2 and 3 later.
After my mishap on the waterfall, I had my share of dentist consultants as well. Similarities in the experience were competition. Every doctor claimed to be the right one and that all others were lying or uneducated. The bonus is that at the very least, they seemed to know what they were doing for the most part. Better yet, there were more selections to choose from.
So I went to the first dentist (I'll refrain from naming them, ask me personally if you want more info) who gave me two options: filling and restoration or crowns. He seemed eager to do the filling, but wasn't going to charge me for it because he couldn't guarantee satisfaction. As nice as he seemed, this was not encouraging. I continued to the next recommendation. They presented the same options on a higher end, but I pushed for the most promising one to avoid mess ups... I said let's go with the crowns to avoid the not so reliable option. They continued to tell me that it would require 3 root canals. AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!! I've been avoiding those all my life and now I have to get 3 in Armenia? Oh boy was I freaked out, but I agreed.
I went in with an appointment 5 days after the accident as they recommended, so that the swelling would go down and settle. Don't know why this helped, but I continued to look like a moron with chipped teeth all along. That's okay, they promised to give me a temporary thing that day to make me look ok.
So I sat in "the chair" and they couldn't have been nicer. They offered headphones to distract me from the work they did, shot me with that numbing stuff, so my entire upperlip to mt nose was numb and I didn't feel a thing the whole time. The only horror I faced was that while they were drilling, a Celine Dion song came on and I had no way of getting out of it... like torture. But I coped just fine and experienced no pain through the process. I continued to ask, "so what about that temporary thing you offered to give so I don't look like an idiot anymore?" They told me that they can't do that right now, they need the teeth open. ARG!!! This was on a Friday, so I had to go through another weekend of stupid chipped tooth look.
As I'm walking back to work, I run into a good ol' friend and gave the dental update. He asked me where I went, so I told him. The reaction I got was the worst I could ask for. He was horrified and highly recommended not going back there. Apparently he also had a filling done there that led to months of pain due to sloppy work and had to go elsewhere to get it fixed. Just when I thought I was in good hands.
Given the source who's opinion I highly respect, I decided to try his guy. I waited until Monday (which is when my next appointment was scheduled) and dropped by in the morning. He said he just had another patient from that same place come to him to fix his problems. Again, the competitive edge came out. I told him they did root canals and he reacted as if I said the US launched nuclear bombs straight for Yerevan. WHAT?!?!?! Why did they do such a thing? That's crazy!
Well, they might not be the most professional, but I figured if he could do a good job for my friend, he's worth a shot. I scheduled an appointment for Wednesday (10 days after the accident) and continued another 2 days looking like an idiot. Finally, I went in. The assistant was not so clever, but the dentist seemed to be determined to restore my tooth with filling to be perfect. 2 hours and quite a bit of pain later, he hands me the mirror. I felt like I was in a movie. It was like art... the man had painted a picasso in my mouth! It's almost impossible to tell that it's not real at all. It matches my other teeth completely, looks completely natural, and even has the same quality. It might even be better than the tooth I had before.
Now I have to go back on Friday to fix the second, and then later the third (which is just cracked). But at the very least, I don't look like an idiot anymore. Best part is, I don't have dental insurance and it was CHEEEEEAAAAAPPPPP!!!!! (Relatively of course)
So there's my dental story. I hope it encourages you all to travel to Armenia to get dental work done. I just recommend you get lots of opinions and as around, see who does what work well. They might be good, but only at one thing. This guy does fillings really well, this guy does cleanings, this one does great root canals, etc. etc. You get my drift, eh?
More on tooth 2 and 3 later.
posted by Arsineh at 5:08 PM
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