last dentist appt.

two weeks ago i went to a new dentist, a dentist that is in my health insurance plan. she cleaned my teeth and i asked her to take x-rays to make sure i didn't have any cavities. she told me i'd have to go to an office that specializes in x-rays. she wrote me a recommendation.

the next day i went to the x-ray specialist and had x-rays taken of all my teeth. afterward, they gave me all the x-rays to hold onto. (seems like the doctors here don't keep your records, rather you do).

yesterday i went back to the dentist, knowing that a filling of mine was cracked and needed to be replaced. i was so happy to find out the rest of my teeth were healthy, yay! so, she proceeded to remove the old filling in order to replace it. long story short, she wasn't gentle, she was sloppy and i was very uncomfortable. after she was done i told her the tooth didn't feel right. she told me my cheek was still numb and that when it wore off it would feel better. that wasn't the case. it still didn't feel right.

so, today, not wanting to go back to 'dentista dolor' and not wanting to make an appointment at another dentist i went to the hospital.

[the hospital provides non-emergency immediate doctors appointments within the hospital. it's included in the plan.]

when i went into make an appointment to see a dentist, i was told to go up stairs to the next floor. on the 2nd floor (1st floor in argentina) i told a secretary that i needed to see a dentist. i handed her my insurance card and then i explained to a dental assistant what my problem was. behind the receptionist's desk there were several dental exam rooms. i only waited 10 minutes until i saw a dentist. (10 minutes!) luckily she spoke english and it took her just 2 minutes to fix my tooth.

hospital aleman had nicer, more modern equipment than the dentist's office that i previously visited. the dentist at the hospital was much more gentle too.

[fyi: everything was covered by the plan. i didn't pay for the cleaning, x-rays, new filling or when the dentist fixed the filling the next day.]

that's it for me. no more dentist appointments for 6 months or a year.

(big healthy smile from me)