This week, things got a little more interesting in Bod. I came across a new challenge that I wasn't expecting to face until later this year- getting some teeth pulled. But, of course, things don't always go as planned, and I write today minus two teeth/plus two new holes in my mouth (can I call them cavities?)
A little background. Way back ago, my Kansas City dentist told me that my wisdom teeth came in all right, so there wasn't any need to remove them. A few years later, my Minneapolis dentist found a couple of small cavities, and did some filling work. Fast forward to last fall, when I was having occasional problems with one of my wisdom teeth, which would become inflamed every once in a while, and it was really painful, and frustrating. I decided that upon returning to the U.S., I would get my wisdom teeth removed.
This is when I introduce you to my next segment, which I'd like to call a step-by-step guide to dealing with tooth extraction in a foreign country.
1. Recognize there's a problem
Last Saturday, I couldn't sleep for more than 30 minutes at a time thanks to the throbbing pain I had in the back of my mouth- but in a crazy twist, it wasn't my problem tooth! It was another one of my wisdom teeth. I tried ibuprofen, paracetamol, salt water gargles- to no avail. This seemed to be a more serious problem.
2. Do your research
I feel like I always have teeth problems on weekends, when the dentist offices aren't open (flashback to spring 2014- I had a surprise root canal after a weekend of hell, when I could only lie on the couch and watch Mad Men, the one thing that would take my mind off the pain. Thanks Don.)
I googled dentist offices in Brasov, the nearest city to my current village. I found several options, looked at the map to see which was the closest to the bus station, and resolved to call them the next morning. Then, my neighbor Paula stopped by, and upon learning I was having problems she immediately offered to drive me to her former classmate, who's a dentist, the next day. I couldn't say no to that, so I agreed to meet her the next morning.
3. Get checked out
The next morning Paula took me to see Adriana in her secondary office in Brasov, which is located in a nursing home in the center of town. Adriana greeted me with a smile, sat me down in the dentist chair, and proceeded to use the end of one of those metal dental tools to rap on my teeth. "Does this one hurt? How about this one? How about this one?" She determined that yes, I'd probably need a tooth extraction, and said she'd call Paula tonight to let me know when to come in the next day. Great. I freaked out a little bit, as I tend to do when some unpleasant news is hoisted upon me, but eventually came to terms with it throughout the day. Adriana didn't charge me anything for the consultation, and said my teeth were very good otherwise. I guess those teeth cleanings every 6 months help- I don't think that's a normal thing in Romania.
4. Prepare yourself
After the appointment, I went to the pharmacy to pick up some of the painkillers Adriana prescribed me, and then stopped by a grocery store to contemplate what type of soft foods I wanted. I settled on yogurt and bought some kefir, even though I've been trying hard to cut back on the dairy products. This seemed like a good excuse. I received a text from Paula saying I needed to go to another dental office to get a panoramic x-ray, so I hustled across town, walked into the office, and was out in 15 minutes, x-ray in hand, and 40 lei (~$10) out of pocket (which seemed reasonable to me).
5. Do more research
As soon as I got home (after ingesting my new stronger painkillers, which come in tiny glass bottles that need to be cut open with a knife) I jumped on the computer and read about wisdom tooth extraction, what I could eat, how I would feel. Of course, this wasn't making me feel any better. I became a little more worried about what tomorrow would be like. Paula wasn't able to drive me into town the next day, so I knew I would have to take the bus and walk to my appointment, then somehow get back to the bus station and take the bus back after the procedure was over. Unfortunately, my roommate Allison is in Israel until this Saturday, so I was at this alone, save for multiple phone calls with my mother. I wasn't really looking forward to being miserable by myself, but decided to suck it up and accept it.
More preparation included making soup and downloading the last season of Mad Men, just for old time's sake.
6. Get thee to the dentistry
My appointment wasn't until 10:30am on Tuesday, but the closest bus to Brasov left at 8:30, so I had some time to kill. I took a long stroll through one of Brasov's larger parks and found a tunnel that led to the railway station. I then went to another supermarket to buy some pudding mix and cottage cheese, just in case I needed more soft foods. Then, x-ray in hand, I went to the dentist!
7. Realize this isn't going to be so bad after all
Once at the dental office, which I think used to be a house, converted into offices, I met Sergiu, the oral surgeon who'd be doing the extraction. He spoke perfect English, and was very friendly. He took a look at my x-rays, and it turns out I have a bigger problem than my wisdom teeth: I have a lesion under one of my root canals, which is going to be a much more complicated ordeal, but fortunately it's not something that needs to immediately be addressed.
Then we moved on the extraction part- the two problem teeth. Sergiu suggested I have one done that day, and another done a week later. I thought it would be better to get them both done at once, so I don't have to worry about more days of resting and pain. He said it wasn't a problem for him to do both, it was only on me, so I was like what the hell, why not. He and his assistant Larisa loaded me up on plenty of anesthetic, and while that was kicking in Sergiu and I chatted about all sorts of stuff. He's from Targu Mures, where I visited last fall, and had spent a couple of months in the U.S. with the Work and Travel program in Texas and Virgina.
Tooth one, begin. Essentially, to extract a tooth the surgeon has to wiggle it loose from the bone, and then take it out. It usually only takes a few minutes, unless there are any external issues or the tooth is impacted. The first one came out pretty easy, and I didn't feel any pain. Woohoo!
While the anesthetic for the second tooth kicked in, Sergiu had a couple of questions about race relations in the states, and why white people hate black people, and why black people think that because you're white, you're racist- of course, I'm overgeneralizing here, but this was the gist of his questions. I went into a small tirade about the rampant killing of unarmed black men in the country, and about the Black Lives Matter movement and its reception by the general population. I don't know if it was the anesthetic, but I got a little worked up talking about it! Maybe it's because I haven't had the chance to talk much about race relations in the U.S. while in Romania. I saw the opportunity and jumped on it.
The second tooth took a little bit longer, but also came out easily. I asked to see the teeth- Sergiu said that people always want to see them, and then take them home. Before I left, Larisa asked if I wanted them, but I just asked for the x-ray back, as my souvenir. The whole procedure took about 45 minutes, and cost 450 lei- about $115.
8. Make your way back home
With pads of gauze between my teeth, I said my farewells and set off towards the bus station. The bus to Bod only goes every 2 hours, and I realized I didn't have enough time to get to the bus station, so I started walking quickly towards the second stop. I was feeling pretty good at this point, which was not what I was expecting. I remember both of my previous root canals being painful, long ordeals, but this wasn't bad at all.
I saw the bus coming up behind me, and I waved my arm frantically to catch the driver's attention. He saw me, but shrugged his shoulders as if, sorry, I can't stop here. Fuck. As the bus passed I started walking faster, and saw that it had stopped at the roundabout intersection up ahead. I decided to start running, and made it to the bus in time for him to open up the door. I uttered a muffled "Multumesc" and handed him the 5 lei fare. I settled into the stuffy, 30 minute ride, breathing heavily after running and trying to keep the gauze on my new holes (cavities??).
When we got to Bod, I stopped by the pharmacy to pick up more ibuprofen and paracetamol, and then decided, fuck it, I'm going to have chocolate ice cream today, and stopped in the shop to buy some. No regrets.
9. Recover
All in all, recovery has not been bad. I was barely sore after the anesthetic wore off, and there was practically no swelling. I enjoyed my chocolate ice cream slowly, after it had softened on the counter for a while. I bingewatched the entire last season of Mad Men in two days, and didn't set foot outside or speak to anyone yesterday. It was kind of nice. I am pretty happy that I wasn't employed when I got this procedure done. I always feel guilty taking time off work for things like this (I once went straight to work after getting four fillings done, and they sent me home) so I'm glad I'm not especially responsible for anything right now, other than making sure the house doesn't burn down.
I also feel as though I've made it over some great hurdle. It's not every day that you're challenged like this- navigating the dental system in a different country, or handling it all practically on your own. So I'm appreciated of the opportunity to prove to myself that I am a pretty hardy, strong person, that can get two teeth pulled and still run to catch the bus.
But now, back to "work", studying for the GRE, eating solid foods, watching the Great British Bake Off, and taking aimless walks through the Romanian countryside.
A little background. Way back ago, my Kansas City dentist told me that my wisdom teeth came in all right, so there wasn't any need to remove them. A few years later, my Minneapolis dentist found a couple of small cavities, and did some filling work. Fast forward to last fall, when I was having occasional problems with one of my wisdom teeth, which would become inflamed every once in a while, and it was really painful, and frustrating. I decided that upon returning to the U.S., I would get my wisdom teeth removed.
This is when I introduce you to my next segment, which I'd like to call a step-by-step guide to dealing with tooth extraction in a foreign country.
1. Recognize there's a problem
Last Saturday, I couldn't sleep for more than 30 minutes at a time thanks to the throbbing pain I had in the back of my mouth- but in a crazy twist, it wasn't my problem tooth! It was another one of my wisdom teeth. I tried ibuprofen, paracetamol, salt water gargles- to no avail. This seemed to be a more serious problem.
2. Do your research
I feel like I always have teeth problems on weekends, when the dentist offices aren't open (flashback to spring 2014- I had a surprise root canal after a weekend of hell, when I could only lie on the couch and watch Mad Men, the one thing that would take my mind off the pain. Thanks Don.)
I googled dentist offices in Brasov, the nearest city to my current village. I found several options, looked at the map to see which was the closest to the bus station, and resolved to call them the next morning. Then, my neighbor Paula stopped by, and upon learning I was having problems she immediately offered to drive me to her former classmate, who's a dentist, the next day. I couldn't say no to that, so I agreed to meet her the next morning.
3. Get checked out
The next morning Paula took me to see Adriana in her secondary office in Brasov, which is located in a nursing home in the center of town. Adriana greeted me with a smile, sat me down in the dentist chair, and proceeded to use the end of one of those metal dental tools to rap on my teeth. "Does this one hurt? How about this one? How about this one?" She determined that yes, I'd probably need a tooth extraction, and said she'd call Paula tonight to let me know when to come in the next day. Great. I freaked out a little bit, as I tend to do when some unpleasant news is hoisted upon me, but eventually came to terms with it throughout the day. Adriana didn't charge me anything for the consultation, and said my teeth were very good otherwise. I guess those teeth cleanings every 6 months help- I don't think that's a normal thing in Romania.
4. Prepare yourself
After the appointment, I went to the pharmacy to pick up some of the painkillers Adriana prescribed me, and then stopped by a grocery store to contemplate what type of soft foods I wanted. I settled on yogurt and bought some kefir, even though I've been trying hard to cut back on the dairy products. This seemed like a good excuse. I received a text from Paula saying I needed to go to another dental office to get a panoramic x-ray, so I hustled across town, walked into the office, and was out in 15 minutes, x-ray in hand, and 40 lei (~$10) out of pocket (which seemed reasonable to me).
5. Do more research
As soon as I got home (after ingesting my new stronger painkillers, which come in tiny glass bottles that need to be cut open with a knife) I jumped on the computer and read about wisdom tooth extraction, what I could eat, how I would feel. Of course, this wasn't making me feel any better. I became a little more worried about what tomorrow would be like. Paula wasn't able to drive me into town the next day, so I knew I would have to take the bus and walk to my appointment, then somehow get back to the bus station and take the bus back after the procedure was over. Unfortunately, my roommate Allison is in Israel until this Saturday, so I was at this alone, save for multiple phone calls with my mother. I wasn't really looking forward to being miserable by myself, but decided to suck it up and accept it.
More preparation included making soup and downloading the last season of Mad Men, just for old time's sake.
6. Get thee to the dentistry
My appointment wasn't until 10:30am on Tuesday, but the closest bus to Brasov left at 8:30, so I had some time to kill. I took a long stroll through one of Brasov's larger parks and found a tunnel that led to the railway station. I then went to another supermarket to buy some pudding mix and cottage cheese, just in case I needed more soft foods. Then, x-ray in hand, I went to the dentist!
 |
| My walk in the park before heading to meet my doom (but not really) |
7. Realize this isn't going to be so bad after all
Once at the dental office, which I think used to be a house, converted into offices, I met Sergiu, the oral surgeon who'd be doing the extraction. He spoke perfect English, and was very friendly. He took a look at my x-rays, and it turns out I have a bigger problem than my wisdom teeth: I have a lesion under one of my root canals, which is going to be a much more complicated ordeal, but fortunately it's not something that needs to immediately be addressed.
Then we moved on the extraction part- the two problem teeth. Sergiu suggested I have one done that day, and another done a week later. I thought it would be better to get them both done at once, so I don't have to worry about more days of resting and pain. He said it wasn't a problem for him to do both, it was only on me, so I was like what the hell, why not. He and his assistant Larisa loaded me up on plenty of anesthetic, and while that was kicking in Sergiu and I chatted about all sorts of stuff. He's from Targu Mures, where I visited last fall, and had spent a couple of months in the U.S. with the Work and Travel program in Texas and Virgina.
Tooth one, begin. Essentially, to extract a tooth the surgeon has to wiggle it loose from the bone, and then take it out. It usually only takes a few minutes, unless there are any external issues or the tooth is impacted. The first one came out pretty easy, and I didn't feel any pain. Woohoo!
While the anesthetic for the second tooth kicked in, Sergiu had a couple of questions about race relations in the states, and why white people hate black people, and why black people think that because you're white, you're racist- of course, I'm overgeneralizing here, but this was the gist of his questions. I went into a small tirade about the rampant killing of unarmed black men in the country, and about the Black Lives Matter movement and its reception by the general population. I don't know if it was the anesthetic, but I got a little worked up talking about it! Maybe it's because I haven't had the chance to talk much about race relations in the U.S. while in Romania. I saw the opportunity and jumped on it.
The second tooth took a little bit longer, but also came out easily. I asked to see the teeth- Sergiu said that people always want to see them, and then take them home. Before I left, Larisa asked if I wanted them, but I just asked for the x-ray back, as my souvenir. The whole procedure took about 45 minutes, and cost 450 lei- about $115.
8. Make your way back home
With pads of gauze between my teeth, I said my farewells and set off towards the bus station. The bus to Bod only goes every 2 hours, and I realized I didn't have enough time to get to the bus station, so I started walking quickly towards the second stop. I was feeling pretty good at this point, which was not what I was expecting. I remember both of my previous root canals being painful, long ordeals, but this wasn't bad at all.
I saw the bus coming up behind me, and I waved my arm frantically to catch the driver's attention. He saw me, but shrugged his shoulders as if, sorry, I can't stop here. Fuck. As the bus passed I started walking faster, and saw that it had stopped at the roundabout intersection up ahead. I decided to start running, and made it to the bus in time for him to open up the door. I uttered a muffled "Multumesc" and handed him the 5 lei fare. I settled into the stuffy, 30 minute ride, breathing heavily after running and trying to keep the gauze on my new holes (cavities??).
When we got to Bod, I stopped by the pharmacy to pick up more ibuprofen and paracetamol, and then decided, fuck it, I'm going to have chocolate ice cream today, and stopped in the shop to buy some. No regrets.
9. Recover
All in all, recovery has not been bad. I was barely sore after the anesthetic wore off, and there was practically no swelling. I enjoyed my chocolate ice cream slowly, after it had softened on the counter for a while. I bingewatched the entire last season of Mad Men in two days, and didn't set foot outside or speak to anyone yesterday. It was kind of nice. I am pretty happy that I wasn't employed when I got this procedure done. I always feel guilty taking time off work for things like this (I once went straight to work after getting four fillings done, and they sent me home) so I'm glad I'm not especially responsible for anything right now, other than making sure the house doesn't burn down.
I also feel as though I've made it over some great hurdle. It's not every day that you're challenged like this- navigating the dental system in a different country, or handling it all practically on your own. So I'm appreciated of the opportunity to prove to myself that I am a pretty hardy, strong person, that can get two teeth pulled and still run to catch the bus.
But now, back to "work", studying for the GRE, eating solid foods, watching the Great British Bake Off, and taking aimless walks through the Romanian countryside.
I just love your storytelling virtues :)
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