at the dentists

well - after a year and a half in africa I couldn't put it off any longer; I had to get my teeth cleaned. not that I don't clean them twice a day myself - but after millions of cups of tea and coffee and other tooth staining substances I didn't like my smile so much anymore. so I got an appointment yesterday.

it's a dental clinic run by a philippino woman and it has been recommended by several people; however, as a dentist's daughter I had my reservations - but unless you actually bite the bullet you won't get anywhere, right? and besides - I could've always gotten up and walked had I felt it necessary. and to be honest a couple of times I wanted to.

anyway - the 'clinic' is located in shopping centre, in space at the far end of the corridor. the waiting room consists of a few modern plastic chairs and a reception desk made from the typical cheap wood varnished dark. the girl at reception is very nice and she made me fill in a form asking about allergies, whether I'd had heart or liver problems in the past. that was quite comforting. there were even magazines to read whilst waiting; mainly on alaska - I started an article on vets who volunteer at that big race, the name of which I've managed to forget already.

when she said that the dentist had gone out for lunch but should be back shortly I got nervous, but in the end I waited only about 5 minutes - wow. the chair was behind a partition, again, made from this cheap wood and it doesn't reach all the way to the ceiling - so if you're having painful surgery done everyone will hear it all. now that must be comforting for those in the waiting room. but then again, the concept of privacy here is simply different. the chair looked fairly modern, the dentist dressed in a white coat and wearing a mask - so far, so good. he bade me sit down and gingerly tied the serviette round my neck - from there he proceeded to stick the one-way sucking tube into the machine, bent it to the right angle and asked me to hold it in my mouth. that was when I thought: 'you are not seriously going to ask me to do my own sucking?!?' he didn't - the assistant turned up shortly after.

and so they got started and proceeded to scrape the dirt of my teeth with a scaler - now, picture this: I'm lying on a chair with the dentist sticking a scaler and the little mirror in my mouth, the assistant has the sucking device swirling around in my mouth to add to the commotion - and he seriously starts up a conversation with me... 'so, where are you from?' - I nearly choked on the water and spit and instruments all coming together in my mouth - so I sat up, spit into the little sink. he asked me if I was ok - I said, yes, I am - I just can't talk to you...
so the rest of the cleaning proceeded in silence. it took forever and a day and the sound of the scaler travels through your teeth into your brain - not the most relaxing experience. still, I had my eyes closed to avoid the water from the operation and tried going to my happy place. but that was constantly interrupted by the assistant who every so often would drift oft to her own happy place and as a result the sucking device would spend minutes stuck to my tongue, or to the inside of my cheeks, or poking my gag reflex, the water running down my throat or simply down my chin - so every now and again I had to take her hand and re-position the device.


but all in all he did a good job and after just over an hour the scaling was finished. now - the way I'm used to teeth cleaning this is the point at which they 'brush' your teeth with that little rubber thingy and some powerful toothpaste. this hasn't reached here yet. instead he took a small gauze, generously smeared the paste on it and then proceeded to rub my teeth with it. if you have a moment try it - just take a small piece of cloth, put some earthy tasting paste on it and then try and reach your molars with it. I was worried I was going to choke, he was pulling my lips in all directions, rubbing that cloth up agains my teeth claiming that this was helping the whitening process. whatever - it was mainly unpleasant and tasted foul.

but the result is nevertheless a sparkly smile.