Dentistuh Cuhleaninguh

Yesterday morning I braved the language barrier and went to the dentist. It's been a while since I've had a routine cleaning so I figured I should go. I mean, why not? My health insurance is the best I've ever had, and may ever have again.

One of my Korean co-teachers at work was kind enough to call and set up the appointment for me last week so I didn't have to deal with it. She told me to go to the 4th floor in the building across from KEB bank in Pyeongnae at 10:30 Monday morning. No problem. Right?


Of course nothing is ever that easy. Not in the great Beige City. As it turns out there is not just one dentist in a building across from KEB, there are 3! I didn't know which direction she meant when she said across (as the KEB is on the corner) so I went to 3 different buildings before I found the right one. Needless to say I was a little late for my appointment.

It was also way awkward going to the wrong dentist and trying to explain in broken English that I may or may not have an appointment with them and if I didn't would they kindly point me in the direction of the nearest dentist. That's what I get for being so proud of my Hongdae-compassing on Sunday. I thought I had somehow acsended to Korean location finding novice. Right.


What a pain in the ass!

Once I finally found the right place though it was smooth sailing. They were really nice and the nurse (dental assistant?) actually spoke English fairly well. They put this weird sheet over my face with a hole cut out of it over my mouth, so it felt a little bit like they were doing surgery on my face, but other than that it was just like back home. (When they took that sheet off my face it was the funniest thing I've ever seen though. My eyeliner had smeared all under my eyes and my hair was sticking striaight up out of my ponytail. Geesh!)


The nurse (dental assistant?) couldn't explain to me what exactly the diagnosis was for the state of my teeth so she had my co-worker call her when I got back to work. Again, thanks so much, Korean co-worker! I thought that was a little funny. What if I had some embarrassing tooth decay something. Eh.

Anywho, it cost 50,000 won and now my teeth are silky smooth. AND I have no cavities, even though there was some vauge something or other about possibly having one in my wisdom tooth! Ouch! Let's all hope that goes away. . . I have a feeling I would get zero days off for that. Teeth ripped out of my face-nerves and all. :/

Fun times.