(I'm the one next to the old guy)

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Done and Dusted

Well, I'm finished.

I went to my last visit to the dentist today, to get the final crowns put in. Should be a quick trip, 30 minutes max, right?

Yeah Nah.
Not so much.
Not even.
Delusional.

The car picked me up on time, so I was about 10 minutes early for my appointment.

Wait over there.

Mr Brian, come this way to have your teeth cleaned. Really? Alrighty then...

Now, in my day, the dentist would put a brush onto his drill mechanism, and dab it into some coarse paste, and then give my mouth a jolly good rogering.

So that's what I was expecting.

Yeah Nah!

Out comes the drill, but no sign of a brush. Grinding away over the surface of my teeth with some kind of drill bit. Not pleasant.
Then she puts the drill away. Phew!

Out comes a hook. You know the sort. Think Captain Hook in a surgical mask. Dentists have been using these things to terrorise kids (and adults, let me tell you) for generations. Good for finding those scraps of food hiding since last Christmas dinner. Also good for taking the tiniest pinprick cavity, and ripping it open. Blech!

So. This girl has one of those hooks, and is gouging away between my teeth.

Now let me just say this. One of the elements of any dentist's training must be strength training. It doesn't matter who your dentist is. As soon as they get on the end of one of those little hooks, they could lift your entire body off the chair with one hand. Forget the magicians and their levitation. Just watch these guys next time.

Anyway, this tiny girl has her hook wedged between my teeth, and is pulling my head off the chair. Jeez! I can only hope that any fillings I came with will hold. If she rips them out, we are back to square one. I wonder if they will pay for a replacement filling if Captain Hook rips any out. A tense time, let me tell you.

Eventually she is finished, and my teeth have survived the ordeal. This is exhausting!

Back to the waiting room.

A few minutes later, it is back into the next room, to see my original dentist for the crowns. At last!

She wants to give me injections for this process. Really?  I'm hardly going to argue. I'm a complete pain pussy. Give me medication every time. Lots of it.

By the way, a couple of days ago, one of the temporary crowns popped out. I was obviously a little over zealous with a toothpick. Bugger! I make an appointment, and get picked up for an unplanned visit. Another dentist sees me, and takes only a couple of minutes to glue it back in place. Anything else while you're here? I might as well get these two fillings done. Save my dentist doing it on the Saturday.

Lucky I did. She fiddles, adjusts, fits, adjusts, fits, adjusts, bite down, adjusts, bite again, adjusts, bite and chew, adjust, bite and chew.
I imagine you get the picture. And there are 4 crowns.
As Lawrence Oates is purported to have said, "I may be some time".

And then it's over, I'm finished.

So here are the details for those who are interested in going to a dentist in Bangkok:

Thantakit Dental Centre.
www.thantakit.com
dentists@thantakit.com

Fillings: 1000 baht per surface. Small fillings use 1, bigger ones take more. Mine ranged between 1 and 3 surfaces.

Crowns from 9000 baht each.

Check out the menu on the website for your own needs.

There is a muppet at work who wants me to find out what it would cost for him to replace all his teeth with some expensive enamel coated metal. I don't understand why somebody would put themselves through this for cosmetic reasons. Weird, man. He can figure it out from the website.

Just a reminder. Stuff like root canals, crowns, implants etc are not only invasive, they are traumatic to the body. You can get medicated up the wazoo, you can be unconscious if you like, but when it's all over and the anaesthetic wears off, your face will feel like it got hit by a truck.
That is regardless of whether you pay top dollar or bargain basement, The best in the world or rank backstreet amateurs. This is still going to hurt, and you are going to take a few days to recover.

So why not do it in a nice warm city, while sipping something cool next to a pool. Bring the family for a holiday.

I recommend this facility to anybody. Lots of foreigners go here. Airline crews who have stopovers here are regulars.

These guys are some of the best in the world.
It looks like they are some of the cheapest as well.
Baking in the Bangkok sun is just a bonus.

Send them an email if you have questions about treatment. Ask me if it's more generic.

No comments:

Post a Comment