A Wonderful Experience

A wonderful thing happened to me a couple of days ago. I broke a tooth. So what’s so wonderful about that, you ask? Okay, I wasn’t happy about the tooth. But I was REALLY happy that it happened while I was still in Canada! Dental services exist in Burkina, but they aren’t nearly as advanced as in North America. Given a choice, I’ll pick an appointment at a dentist’s office in Canada any day.

Things have come a long way since I was a kid. Back then, going to the dentist ranked up there with such experiences as getting called into the principal’s office, getting the strap, getting a licking at home, and having a bike accident serious enough to land you in the hospital. Except it was worse because you knew it was coming for days and weeks ahead of time. I couldn’t sleep for days before a dentist appointment! I knew there was a lot of pain coming and I was rarely disappointed. The needles hurt like crazy, the dentist often didn’t wait long enough for the freezing to take effect before starting to drill or pull a tooth, and my entire face was sore for days afterwards from all the stuff and activity that took place in my mouth during an appointment. My dentists were always men and they weren’t particularly sympathetic or gentle in their treatment of me.

This week’s dental experience was totally different. First of all, the dentist was a young Asian lady. I couldn’t have asked for a kinder, sweeter, gentler person! I hardly felt the needles (she thought it would only take one, but ended up giving me two more because my tooth seemed extra sensitive), she waited until things were good and frozen, and she did a great job of the tooth repair. I was really impressed. I tried to give her a smile when she was done, but couldn’t quite do it. With half my face frozen, it was hard to control the muscles on that side.

Unfortunately, the experience wasn’t totally painless. You guessed it... the bill :/

But it was worth every cent! :)