40,000 Php per Tooth?!
Dental Service (Photo Credit: Dayujob)
The assistant first took an x-ray. She´s nice. It went well, fast and easy. She then ushered me inside a small room.
“Hi!” a familiar woman greeted me. “Hello”, I said with a smile while sitting down in the black leaning chair. “How do you feel?” she asked. “My toothache is killing me”, I said. “Hmmm, should we take a closer look?“, mydentist said.
It was found out that I had an infection in my molar with filling. She has to do the following: extract the old filling, disinfect the area, clean it up, fill it up again and to cover it with a crown ( I thought only the royalties uses crown?!). I didn´t understand it completely. I was desperate and I can´t stand another sleepless night due to toothache. “Can you just please, do what you can to stop the pain now?”. “Well, I can do a temporary treament”, she answered.
Luckily, I got what I wanted. Finally a good night sleep.
Well, maybe not. My tooth still needs a crown. And “it´s a must to do the treatment” she added before I left the clinic. Sigh, the word “crown” sounds really expensive.
When I came home, I googled about the series of treatments that she said. I found out that the treatment is called ENDODONTIC THERAPY; which according to Wikipedia: is a sequence of treatment for the pulp of a toothwhich results in the elimination of infection and protection of the decontaminated tooth from futuremicrobial invasion. This set of procedures is commonly referred to as a “root canal.”
Root canals and their associated pulp chamber are the physical hollows within a tooth that are naturally inhabited by nerve tissue, blood vessels and other cellular entities. Endodontic therapy involves the removal of these structures, the subsequent cleaning, shaping, and decontamination of the hollows with tiny files and irrigating solutions, and the obturation (filling) of the decontaminated canals with an inert filling such as gutta percha and typically aeugenol-based cement.
The last part for this treatment is fitting a crown to prevent the tooth from breaking. This sounds serious. But the most shocking part is…that it will cost me another 5.000 norwegian kroner or so… for a tooth. Sigh.
Dentists are the last people here in Norway on my list. Really. But one can one do with an excruciating tooth pain which leads to headache, sleepless nights and bad appetite? Yes, painkillers work temporarily. There were nights when I cried myself to sleep, took more than “what -is -prescribed” painkiller tablets and hope that I could still wake up the following day.
It took me back a year ago when my dentist referred me to a specialist. That was the story of my decayed wisdom tooth. It cannot be extracted with a normal procedure. In short, a minor operation. My first time on an operating room was dramatic. My body was covered with ” I don´t know what” but it feels like plastic sheets. Except for my mouth, obviously. Scary. The lights overhead were too bright.
Even with closed eyes, I can still feel its brightness. I got four anesthesia injections. Glad my eyes were covered. After 30 minutes with pulling and “oh so difficult” remarks.., my tooth was pulled out. That cost me a bit more than 5,000 norwegian kroner. Minor operation, major amount of money.
And then now. Again. Not again….
It´s not really nice to compare but 2 years ago when I came home, I paid less than 1.000 kroner (P7,000 Php for my 6 teethwith holes to be filled. I have no problem with it since then. If I could just take a plane and fly back home (no, the plane ticket would cost me more)…Or if I can just bear the pain and wait ´til my next vacation (tsk, the question is.. when?).
I have no choice but to do it here in Norway. I have no idea how much root canal treatment costs in the Philippines but I am sure that it is way cheaper than here in Norway.
Well, I am still contemplating when to call my dentist for appointment in this Endodontic therapy thing. It´s not as if a full- time- student-who- works- part-time to support herself and her family back home has a lot of money. Duh. I need to save for it. I need to work this summer. I actually suggested to just pull out the infected tooth but then my dentist said that it is better to keep my natural teeth if I can. Because if a tooth is missing, neighboring teeth can drift out of line. And it is actually located just beside my extracted wisdom tooth. If pulled out, there will be a massive hole there. I might end up with crooked teeth. 
Bottomline is: I ain´t scared of dentists because they use big needles or injections. I am scared of them because they cost a hell lot of money!
Hint: Para sa mga dentistang pinoy, ano pa hinihintay n’yo? Malaki ang kita dito sa Norway ´Wag n’yo lang po akong tanungin kung paano mag apply dito kasi wala po akong ideya
author: JegHeterLei
p.e./mj
©Copyright 2012, Filipino | Definitely Filipino™. All rights reserved. Copying of any article from this Definitely Filipino blog without permission, is strictly prohibited. DISCLAIMER: All articles are opinions of their respective authors and not necessarily of the site owner and Definitely Filipino.
