I know I keep mentioning how rural my location is but I have to mention it again. I live in such a rural place that our first month here, I didn't think there could be a legitimate dentist. One time Chris and I were walking down a lane in Hengchun (our nearest real town) and we noticed a very old man sitting in his living room watching TV. Normally we would walk on because everyone has a living room with a TV but something about it seemed odd. On further staring for an extra ten seconds or so we realized with horror that there were two mismatching ancient dentist chairs side by side adjacent to the living room. It looked like they had been plucked out of a dental office and conveniently placed inside someone's house. We felt rude to be gaping into this man's living room so we walked on but we were sure of it, that living room doubled as a sketchy dental office. By sketchy I mean about as sketchy as Sweeney Todd's barber shop. It didn't help the case by this conveniently placed sign.
Unfortunately one day, about a couple of months ago, I was lunching on 'niu rouh mien' (beef noodle soup) when suddenly half of my molar broke off. It just broke off. At first, I thought it was a piece of bone but then something felt funny in my mouth and I realized that the bone was my own tooth. It was a slap in the face because I was already having a horrible week. Anyway, here I am, in a foul mood, the beginning of the work week and holding a piece of my tooth. I figured I would have to give one of these sketchy dentists a try because there was no way I would be able to make an emergency trip to Kaoshiung (the big city a couple of hours from here) until the weekend.
I definitely didn't want to go to the living room dentist so I asked my coworkers if they had ever been to a dentist in Hengchun. They said that they all go to Kaoshiung but one of my coworkers recommended a dentist in town since it was a sort of emergency. He said he went there years ago before he found a dentist in Kaoshiung and that he remembered that he spoke some English.
The next morning before work, I scootered over there and went inside. After the secretary or counter person or whatever rudely helped me (she was exasperated that I couldn't speak Chinese) she told me to sit down. I waited and became aware of my surroundings. It was about a 10ft x 10ft room with one chair, a very old dentist working on some woman's teeth and the tiniest counter that served as the cashier/reception. The room was old and everything in there seemed old but it wasn't ancient and it felt more like a dental office than somebody's living room. I decided that this was my best bet and waited patiently.
The dentist spoke English but it was quite obvious that his English vocabulary consisted mainly of dental terms and he kept using his concise dental vocabulary on me. It wasn't that he was trying to show off his English skills at all, it's because part of the Taiwanese dental education is to learn these words and he must've assumed that any English speaker would use these words in their daily vocabulary. For example, instead of 'filling' he kept saying
amalgam, he also used words like,
composite resin and
prophylaxis. All with a very thick accent. It took my full concentration to try to register what he was saying.
After checking my teeth he concluded that my tooth was broken (I know!), and that he was too old to fix it. Literally, he said, "I do not have stamin to fix tooth, I recommend you go other place." Fortunately the visit only cost me $3 (my awesome health insurance) and doubly fortunate he told me that the Hengchun Christian Hospital had a dental office. I was relieved because it's also known as the Tourist hospital so there had to be English there (but there wasn't really).
A friend helped me find a number to that hospital and she made me an appointment. When I got there, it was a world of a difference. I was pleasantly surprised to see a legitimate dental office, here in Hengchun! For one, the office was very white with those bright florescent lights that I'm accustomed to associating with medical treatment. The nurses were all dressed up like nurses, the dentist was wearing a bright white lab coat, and everything looked clean, clean, clean. They even had a separate room for kids decorated to seem less frightening. The doctor however spoke less English than the last doctor (but still used all those dental terms) but he was very nice and told me that all I needed was a filling. Fifteen minutes and $3 later, I was fixed.
Today, I just got back from getting my wisdom teeth pulled. It would be nice if the dentist spoke better English... especially when after he pulled my teeth he told me that I had to keep the gauze in place for another hour and not spit anything out. Then he just kinda got up and left. Leaving me standing there not knowing what to do next. It's funny, a lot of times in Taiwan, I feel like I'm a part of a scavenger hunt. The nurse doesn't speak English so she hands me the receipt and points down. I go back to the first floor to another nurse who doesn't speak English and she writes down how much I owe, then points to the pharmacy. I walk up to the pharmacy, hand them my paper and they give me my medicine. In broken English, I'm given dosage directions and then I'm finished. Sounds easy enough but it can be stressful, trust me. (So why not go learn Chinese? IT'S FRIGGIN' HARD!) So I leave with my questions unanswered like,
"Do I put a piece of fresh gauze in my mouth?" "How long will I bleed?" "Can I talk?" "What can I eat?" "What can't I eat?" Luckily for me, I have the internet.
Despite my lack of Chinese and having two gaping holes in my mouth, I feel fortunate to be covered by their wonderful government health insurance. I paid $3, YES $3! For two of my wisdom teeth to get extracted, including antibiotics and painkillers... I don't think I have to remind any of you what ridiculous prices I would've paid back at home.
