I survived the dentist - take 1

I have needed to go to the dentist for nearly a year now to get work done. When I was a little girl (12), I had to get a big double molar taken out. Since then I have chewed all my food on the right side of my mouth. As you can imagine, this took a toll on my right side teeth, with the bottom molar faring considerably worse than the top molar, meaning, I have no tooth left, it is all filling.
I always thought, oh well, I'll just keep getting it refilled. I never really thought about how to fix the issue... until I came to China.

Last year Kane and I went to the see the dentist to get a clean. My poor old over worked molar had been a little sensitive for a few years I had also realised that it was getting a little decayed at the base of the filling. The dentist David (an English speaking Chinese), suggested crowning it. He also said that I needed to bridge where the tooth had been pulled out 17 year before to try to even the chewing load. A big shock to let sink in, but I knew he was right.

I put it off for a while to 'think', then came our holiday back home, then came no money, then the Christmas holiday, then the CNY holiday, which all cost money. I ran out of excuses in the end. So- nearly a year later, I finally plucked up the courage and the money to get this process started. Plus a few months back I made a deal with myself, I can't any big purchases until this was done, and so once this is all paid for, I can start buying my wedding dress, some furniture to bring home, etc. The deal worked!

I was so scared today, needless to say, I had had a heap of work done, especially between 11-17 years old with my braces and pre-work, and dentist are not my favourite specialists! :)

David was so lovely. He was really gentle with injection and he did it in three goes. First the denti-freeze gel to dumb the skin and then the first injection which was fine and the second deeper one, of which I didn't feel at all. Then two hours of sitting in the chair with my mouth open. I was over that by the end. So I write this with just a dull ache, mostly where I had the injection and from having my mouth open for so long. I am wearing a temporary crown while the full porcelain ones are being made in Shanghai. The two crowns will hold a bridge in the middle so I can chew food on the left side of my mouth. I am sure it'll feel weird after having no tooth for more than half of my life.

So after the bridge is attached next Sunday, I will then go back the following weekend to crown the remaining right side molar which I am sure will be happy to have a new lease on life :) 4 weeks total and the job will be done.

And the best bit... in Australia, work like this would cost over $1000AU per tooth. Here, it is going to cost me RMB6525 for everything, which is around $1300AU, plus I get RMB3000 back on health insurance and RMB800 back from school, so I'll only be out of pocket around RMB2700, which is around $500AU. That wouldn't happen back home.

Now this has been started and I have paid the first installment, next week I make my first trip to the wedding dress tailor to begin discussions!!!!!!!! I'm so excited...