Of weather and teeth

First things first: in my last post I mentioned how hot it still is in Greece, by September standards. Then mom's friend K. from Louisiana brought to her attention that temperatures there ranged around 104F (40C) during hurricane Gustav's visit. And that's without electricity, which means no air conditioning or fans of any sort. So mom and I think we owe an apology for our blasphemy. 88F (31C) is a fine temperature, especially when it's accompanied by a meager 33% humidity, as it is here in Plovdiv.

On to mom's favorite subject: teeth and dentists. As many of you already know, mom has been in pain for a while now, yet again. So when her landlord asked her, upon our arrival yesterday, if there is anything she needs, her immediate reply was "a dentist". Our landlady then made some phone calls and mom ended up with a 2pm appointment today. Now, that's what I call service!

So after we came back from a long walk to mom's school (a separate post coming soon), mom dropped me off and went to the dentist, accompanied by her young landlord as an interpreter. Before she left the apartment, she took all the money she had. After reading Carolyn's post about cash economy and having extensive experience with U.S. dentists, she felt she would need all the cash she could carry.

Mom and V. went to an radiologist first who took an x-ray. Apparently that's how it works here: the dentist tells you what to ask for, you go to the radiologist, have an x-ray, wait for 15 minutes, take the x-ray in your hands, go to the dentist. If you are tempted to say "oh, how much hassle!", maybe a reminder of the HMO referral system will keep your mouth shot. You want more? Let's talk money. One x-ray, cost: 4 leva. Yes, that's 4 (FOUR) leva, or 2 (TWO) Euros, or 3 (three) US dollars. WITHOUT ANY KIND OF INSURANCE. Need I say more?




With x-ray in hand, mom and V. took a cab to the dentist (which, by the way, cost about as much as the x-ray itself). Entering the dentist's office, they had to wear protective shoe covers, ER style. The one-room office had a window that overlooked a nice and quiet street. Under different circumstances, mom would have appreciated the view.

With V's help mom explained which tooth hurts (btw, tooth numbering is different in Bulgaria so mom can't boast anymore about knowing the exact numbers of her teeth) and that it probably needs a root canal. That did impress the dentist. She then proceeded to remove the filling in order to evaluate the situation. Only she forgot something: anesthetic. When she saw mom's terrified look she explained that anesthesia would hinder the proper evaluation of the tooth.

This made sense to mom, who always complained that U.S. dentists use novocaine like it's candy. That said, by the end of the session she missed novocaine sorely. It turns out that pain caused by root-drilling really fills up your brain. In retrospect, mom is happy she went through this without anesthetic, but not eager to go through it again. She really hopes that tomorrow and Monday (root canals in Greece and Bulgaria typically take 3 visits) there will be anesthetic flowing. Keep your fingers crossed...