BoomerGirl Diary

I am happy to be writing this update on my recent dental experiences, totally PAIN FREE!

The dentist who put in the temporary filling recommended me to her daughter, also a dentista, who has a practice near my home. The daughter's office called saying they had scheduled me for an appointment in a few days. When it arrived, my man mate drove me to the office just a few minutes away, and escorted me inside the office. He wanted to make sure it was sanitary. Rather, "clean enough". It was. I was pleased to find that the young dentist was very friendly, educated and had fairly good English skills.

I told her about my losing my filling, getting a temporary one, and it falling out. I showed her how the inside half of my tooth was very loose. She looked at the X-ray that her mom had taken and forwarded to her office for my appointment. The young dentist's observation was that my tooth was indeed broken and that the break extended into the root. Because of that, my tooth could not be repaired or even crowned. It would have to go.

She numbed me up good and pulled out the loose bit, then took some pix with a digital camera. We looked at the photos on her computer. With the pictures of my half tooth taking up the entire computer screen, she saw a big crack going down into my gums. What I saw were giant whiskers on my upper lip. I couldn't take my eyes off of them. I really needed to wax my lip!

We returned to the modern dental chair and she gave me some more medication to keep the area around the tooth numb. She explained everything she planned to do and told me again as she preformed each process. She used some tool to loosen my tooth away from the gums. Then she wiggled, pulled, and tugged at the remnant of my tooth. I felt no pain, but lots of pressure as she worked to release it from my jaw.

After it was extracted we discussed what my options were. I had three choices:

1. A bridge with a fake tooth that will be permanently attached to the two neighboring teeth
2. A retainer type mouth piece with a fake tooth on it.
3. Implant a fake tooth into the bone (jaw).

I didn't want to wear a retainer with a tooth. It wouldn't show, but chances are I would lose it or break it. Plus I felt it would be difficult to get used to.

An implant was going to be very expensive and would take up to a year to complete the process. It would also mean several trips to a large city to get it done.

So, once the big hole in my head heals up we'll see about getting a bridge. I could probably get away with not doing anything, but my smile does look a bit "hillbilly" when I smile big. It'll cost about $600 for the process. Dang. I thought dental care was to be a LOT cheaper here. I'm sure it is cheaper (with no insurance) but it isn't as drastically less expensive as I had hoped.

But the pain is GONE and I got to keep both halves of my tooth. I was given instructions to eat soft foods for a day or two so that evening; I made some hamburger gravy to have over toast and was careful eating that. I was also told "No HOT fluids until tomorrow and no "jogging" (ha ha) or heavy exercise (ha ha) or aspirin for a few days, all to help keep the blood clotted". No problem! I had minimal bleeding, no swelling and no bruising. The day's charge for tooth extraction, anesthesia and cleaning the deep abyss, $50. Cute little plastic mouse to take my tooth parts home in, FREE.

I found there wasn't too much of a difference with my first dental experience in Costa Rica and treatments I've received in the states. I did not however receive a parting gift of a new tooth or dental floss. The one thing that was completely new and different was the parting advice from her as I was leaving.

"When you get home, be sure to clean your souvenir tooth with alcohol. Otherwise, ants will find their way to it and start eating it".

Yep… It's a Jungle Down Here.