So before I left for Barcelona I decided to suck it up and finally go to the dentist. First of all, I hate her. No, that's not fair I just hate all dentists and she happened to be my dentist at the time. She told me I might need a root canal. Great.
Dentist: There's no infection yet, so that's good.
Me: So what do I do if it starts hurting?
Denist: Take some advil or pain killers or something.
Me: Okay...
*Mom comes in*
Mom: HELLOO SO HOW IS SHE?
Dentist: She needs a root canal.
Mom: Oh...WHAT?
*I cry in corner*
My mom talks really loud. We all do.
Anyways, this day happens to be one week before I leave for Barcelona which means, can't get it done. So I wait. I can still kind of chew on the right side of my mouth in January, but by March I can't touch it. And yesterday I was woken up from a wonderful nap feeling like the right side of my mouth was going to explode. It was throbbing so hard, I knew that at any second it would burst and kill me. I ended up sobbing because this went on for 15 minutes relentlessly, and it wasn't even coming in waves. It was just one constant, immense pain. So I popped as many Motrin as I could without killing myself and laid back down. I told Ian I wasn't gonna make it til the morning or to the American dentist I found. He told me, "NO", so I listened and the Motrin finally kicked in.
Today was my appointment with Dr. Joseph Vilallonga. I walk in, it's in a nice part of town, and the office is pretty big for a city office. The waiting room is huge, I think there are two, and they had a bunch of fashion magazines to read. The receptionist was Japanese, so when I walked in I was comforted by the fact that she was speaking Japanese to another woman and that this is what living in an anime would be like.
After waiting for about five minutes she called me in. Dr. Vilallonga - He. Is. Amazing. I want to trap him in a sack and drag him back to America with me. He made me feel a whole lot better about the ordeal, and told me not to worry about the root canal, that it was a simple procedure. (Other stupid dentist at home told me she couldn't do it and that I had to be recommended to another dentist who could). So he gave me a prescription of antibiotics and ibuprofen. This is when I realized I'm a doctor! I've been taking ibuprofen because I knew it would help with the pain, but it was also an anti-inflammatory, which is why it's been working so well.
This is also when I realized that healthcare here is so much cheaper. He took an x-ray, and without insurance, those things in the States cost about $100 at least. My appointment plus the x-ray came to 56E, and the root canal would only be 160E. Back at home, my dentist told me it would cost from $500-$600 without insurance. WHAT A RIP OFF. So I run along to the pharmacy thinking that it's gonna be super expensive again without insurance. A huge case of antibiotics and ibuprofen came out to 8E. What? I love Spain. That's what.
But, more updates to come on my demon tooth after May 7th. Wish me luck! If I come back toothless, I'm sorry, Ian.
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