Blog - Dentist
Dentist
Today I went to the dentist...! for the first time since I'm in Japan... and for the first time in about 7 years (if I remember right)!
I was a bit scared since I thought I'd most likely be told that I have a bunch of cavities, since I eat a lot of chocolate, cake and other sweet stuff. I also had heard not so reassuring stories about dentists in Japan, notably this one by fellow Nakano resident Gregg.
The reason why I decided to go wasn't that I wanted to make sure I didn't have cavities, but since a few days ago I had noticed a black spot between a tooth and gum, which I wasn't sure if it was stuck food (like fish bone or tail) or an injury or what.
So today I wasn't feeling so well because of a cold, this morning my throat was hurting and I kept sneezing so I decided to sleep in. In the afternoon I felt a bit better so I decided to confront the dreaded dentist. I went to a clinic close-by to which my girlfriend usually goes. I got an appointment for 16:45.
When I went back there for my appointment, I first had to fill a form regarding the purpose of my visit, which I could manage pretty well even though it was all in Japanese.
After a few minutes I was called and the dentist had a look at what I was worried about, and also found similar symptoms elsewhere. He told me that it was little bits of clotted blood and that it could be cleaned within a few minutes. His assistant also did a general brushing and checked for cavities, and turns out that even though I've eaten so much sugary stuff over the years, I still have perfect teeth! (as far as cavities go anyway)
So I'm very happy to say that it went remarkably well! The staff was nice and professional and they didn't hesitate to use some stuff to prevent bleeding during the clean-up. The place was clean and they used recent-looking equipment, and there was some soothing repetitive muzak on.
Now I can relax a bit about my teeth's condition and I'll be sure to go every 6 months or so! (anyway I'll try)
Today we're having gyūdon ("beef bowl", though I don't like this English term which excludes the rice)! I didn't have any since the gyūdon chains all turned towards pork because of the mad cow frenzy last month.
itadakimasu!
Posted on March 23, 2004 at 18:33 | Tweet
|
Trackback
Comments RSS
hahaha, does that mean you can eat all the candy and chocolates you want without fear of repercussion?
also... bits of clotted blood? I think i would be worried if my dentist told me i had bits of clotted blood hanging out in my mouth. Did he say everything was cool?
Posted by Brent on March 23, 2004 at 19:03
Yes I think so, now I can eat all the chocolate I want without any fear! So keep your reviews coming. :)
I bought ice cream and chocolate on my way back from the dentist, haha.
And yeah he said that it was nothing to worry about. I don't know how that formed in the first place. My best guess would be by eating some fish with tiny bones. It doesn't seem to bother most Japanese, they all say that it's good cause it's calcium, but no matter how I try not to mind them sometimes they hurt a bit. I've also had tail bits from tiny fish stuck between and tooth and gum, so perhaps that was the cause.
Maybe my mouth is just overly sensitive. :)
Posted by Patrick on March 23, 2004 at 19:09
makes me feel bad .. i think my last time was just before we left New York .. so .. that must have been in summer 02 ... and i only went because one of my crowns got lose ... yeah .. at a certain age suddenly root canal and crowns enter the dental vocabulary ... but clotted blood spots ? never even heard about that .. did the dentist say how those happen ? will it happen again ?
cheers P
Posted by Peter on March 24, 2004 at 06:03
Peter, you should read my previous comment above. :)
I don't know but, on the form I had to fill regarding the purpose of my visit, there was a list of reasons and this one was like 3rd on the list, so perhaps for some reason it's common here!? I'm clueless.
Posted by Patrick on March 24, 2004 at 08:36
It is really nice blog! Wahhh!
Posted by Vasya on February 2, 2006 at 19:22