Dentistry in Japan
Oct. 28th, 2012 11:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jessicainjapanNot too TMI, promise.
In the past month I have discovered more than I ever hopes to about dentistry around the Narashino area.
Overall, my experience has been good, though!
Before coming to Japan, I knew I needed to get some cavities taken care of and my wisdom teeth yanked. Unfortunately, I had little time and less cash to get either of those things taken care of. When my insurance completely object to covering any of the cost for getting my (impacted) wisdom teeth out surgically, the choice was made to have it done in Japan as soon as I was settled in.
I started out my foray into getting my teeth repaired by searching for dentists who spoke English because, let's face it, I am light-years away from ever memorizing enough teeth-specific vocabulary words to navigate the pitfalls of dental visits. And who wants to be 89% clueless about what's going on when the person you're talking to is armed with a drill?
The dentist I eventually chose had her office in nearby Mimomi and turned out to be possibly the best choice out there. Not only could she speak English, but she wants to be a translator for dentistry in the future and wanted to improve her English! In addition to that, she had a friend who recently moved his dental surgeon office into the hospital in my part of the city. She agreed to not only be my dentist, but to also translate for me when I went to get my wisdom teeth surgically removed.
I heard horror stories on the net about dentists in Japan not wearing gloves and practicing questionable sanitation practices, but I encountered none of that at my dentist's office! Her equipment was more modern than some of the stuff at my American dentist and she was much more concerned with getting me through my visits pain-free than my American dentist ever was. Before cleaning my teeth, then even numbed my gums slightly! I have really sensitive gums, so I was shaking from anticipating the pain, but that saved me from feeling anything! It was amazing. I will never go back to my American dentist.
The only thing I had a problem with was arguing for a resin filling on a large cavity I've been fighting with for more than a year. My American dentist tried to fill it at least four times and screwed up every time. The last filling held until two months into my stay in Japan, then promptly fell out again. My dentist preferred ending that problem with a metal cap, but I was pretty stalwart about avoiding that. I've got a few metal allergies and I wasn't about to deal with getting any metal permanently installed in my mouth. Eventually she gave in and did the filling amazingly.
And then she took pictures with her crazy mouth!camera to show me the results.
Sorry, American dentists, this lady has you outclassed at every turn.
Yesterday I at least went in for the big day! Getting my first wisdom tooth out! In Japan, it's common to use local anesthetic instead of knocking you out completely. I was... leery about this. My surgery took about 1 hr 15 minutes because the surgeon was petrified of touching the nerve my wisdom tooth was sitting on, and in all that time I experience any measurable pain maybe once. For an instant. And then they gave me another shot and all was well.
They put in stitches after all was said and done, gave me two different rounds of antibiotics, and a whopping four pain pills. When my American dentist removed a wisdom tooth, he packed me with gauze and an entire bottle of pain killers. My face was badly swollen and I was in a fair bit of agony from that first one immediately after having it removed and I spent an entire week in pain and popping pills.
No such happening in Japan! Despite it being surgery and more intense than my last wisdom tooth, I had no ill effects until it hit 2AM (my pain pill wore off). After popping another one I slept fine and when that one wore off... no significant pain to speak of. My face didn't even swell up until this morning and already it's less severe than it was. I can eat fine and the only bleeding I experience was last night when I talked to much with my mom!
So far I rate dental work in Japan as amazing. It's odd scheduling multiple appointments for different things, but my dentist and dental surgeon put those multiple visits to good use by being extra careful and paying special attention to what they're doing.
In the past month I have discovered more than I ever hopes to about dentistry around the Narashino area.
Overall, my experience has been good, though!
Before coming to Japan, I knew I needed to get some cavities taken care of and my wisdom teeth yanked. Unfortunately, I had little time and less cash to get either of those things taken care of. When my insurance completely object to covering any of the cost for getting my (impacted) wisdom teeth out surgically, the choice was made to have it done in Japan as soon as I was settled in.
I started out my foray into getting my teeth repaired by searching for dentists who spoke English because, let's face it, I am light-years away from ever memorizing enough teeth-specific vocabulary words to navigate the pitfalls of dental visits. And who wants to be 89% clueless about what's going on when the person you're talking to is armed with a drill?
The dentist I eventually chose had her office in nearby Mimomi and turned out to be possibly the best choice out there. Not only could she speak English, but she wants to be a translator for dentistry in the future and wanted to improve her English! In addition to that, she had a friend who recently moved his dental surgeon office into the hospital in my part of the city. She agreed to not only be my dentist, but to also translate for me when I went to get my wisdom teeth surgically removed.
I heard horror stories on the net about dentists in Japan not wearing gloves and practicing questionable sanitation practices, but I encountered none of that at my dentist's office! Her equipment was more modern than some of the stuff at my American dentist and she was much more concerned with getting me through my visits pain-free than my American dentist ever was. Before cleaning my teeth, then even numbed my gums slightly! I have really sensitive gums, so I was shaking from anticipating the pain, but that saved me from feeling anything! It was amazing. I will never go back to my American dentist.
The only thing I had a problem with was arguing for a resin filling on a large cavity I've been fighting with for more than a year. My American dentist tried to fill it at least four times and screwed up every time. The last filling held until two months into my stay in Japan, then promptly fell out again. My dentist preferred ending that problem with a metal cap, but I was pretty stalwart about avoiding that. I've got a few metal allergies and I wasn't about to deal with getting any metal permanently installed in my mouth. Eventually she gave in and did the filling amazingly.
And then she took pictures with her crazy mouth!camera to show me the results.
Sorry, American dentists, this lady has you outclassed at every turn.
Yesterday I at least went in for the big day! Getting my first wisdom tooth out! In Japan, it's common to use local anesthetic instead of knocking you out completely. I was... leery about this. My surgery took about 1 hr 15 minutes because the surgeon was petrified of touching the nerve my wisdom tooth was sitting on, and in all that time I experience any measurable pain maybe once. For an instant. And then they gave me another shot and all was well.
They put in stitches after all was said and done, gave me two different rounds of antibiotics, and a whopping four pain pills. When my American dentist removed a wisdom tooth, he packed me with gauze and an entire bottle of pain killers. My face was badly swollen and I was in a fair bit of agony from that first one immediately after having it removed and I spent an entire week in pain and popping pills.
No such happening in Japan! Despite it being surgery and more intense than my last wisdom tooth, I had no ill effects until it hit 2AM (my pain pill wore off). After popping another one I slept fine and when that one wore off... no significant pain to speak of. My face didn't even swell up until this morning and already it's less severe than it was. I can eat fine and the only bleeding I experience was last night when I talked to much with my mom!
So far I rate dental work in Japan as amazing. It's odd scheduling multiple appointments for different things, but my dentist and dental surgeon put those multiple visits to good use by being extra careful and paying special attention to what they're doing.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-28 03:25 pm (UTC)And yikes! Hopefully ballooning is temporary and you feel better in the morning!
no subject
Date: 2012-10-28 03:27 pm (UTC)Oh well. Time for sleep whether Sirius approves or not.
Good night, my Mandy! <3
no subject
Date: 2012-10-28 03:28 pm (UTC)