So glad I got a second opinion. in Adventures in paradise

So, I’m back from my second-opinion dental appointment, and my teeth are all sparkly and clean!
Man, did I need that clean or what!? Haha, I swear it’d been a couple of years at least since I last had it done, so it wasn’t the most pleasant experience ever, so I just had to shut my eyes and take my mind to a different place.

I had a really friendly Asian lady this time. She didn’t look very old at all! Like maybe straight out of uni. In fact, everyone who worked there looked really young haha. Anywoo, I had my clean done and another check-up and x-rays done. I didn’t say anything that I’d already been to another dentist. I just wanted to hear what she had to say.

The X-rays were done first and then that oh-so unpleasant clean. Although it’s a weird feeling. In a way I kind of like getting the clean - that sensitivity feeling is kind of nice. It’s only a bit unbearable in the places where the plaque had really built up, in the major chewing areas I suppose. So I got my check-up and clean done and forked out the $190 for it. I was much happier than at the other place, who didn’t even give me a clean for their price, slightly cheaper.

Now, for the estimate comparison between the two. Check this out.
The first one is Ms Rip-Ripofferson up the road.
Turns out she is now keeping that nick-name.

Now, let’s keep in mind, this is her estimate JUST for the ONE root-canal.

The above all adds up to $2387.

Now, here’s the estimate for the place I just got home from.

Only the top bit is that same tooth’s treatment plan. It’ll be $1478.
The rest of it is the fillings I should get done, but aren’t important (yet). The bottom bit is the root canal I’ve had done years ago (the $700ish one at the time) now that she feels is ‘leaking’ and it’s causing food to get stuck up there, so I have the option of either putting a filling on that and seeing how it goes, or removing that tooth, but again, not a big deal, although it will be soon.

And look at the differences for the same numbers - ie. #416. Ms Ripofferson wanted three lots of $168. This chick wants two lots of $128.
Same thing with #417 and #418
Ripofferson (#417 + 418) wants $822.
Nice Asian (#417 + 418) wants $550.

So, let’s add that all up shall we? $2387 (Ripofferson) - $1478 (Nice Asian) = 909 fucking dollars difference.
For the same tooth, for the same procedure. Ergh, fucking dentists.

I’m kind of half-considering this one. It’s either go with that, or go ahead with the, I guess risky, Thailand plan haha. I’m not even sure how well they speak English over there. A Thailand trip would probably work out to be around about $1600 all up at a guess (flight, accomm, procedure, food).
So now I’m kind of breaking even with my money options on getting this troublesome tooth fixed.

Of course, when she was tapping away at it today in the chair, the offending-tooth gave me pretty much no response LOL.
Nevermind that it’s put me in agony the past few weeks. Stupid thing.
She even did this thing where she put cold compress things on it and asked me if I could feel it, and I couldn’t. It was more of a weird feeling like I knew it was there, but no reaction to the cold.
The clean was rather disgusting. I knew it would be. It was that bad that the assistant had to go out and get more supplies or something cos they ran out LOL. I overheard the dentist say, “I thought we’d have enough.” Pretty gross. But anyway, I’m clean as a whistle now in there and she said my gums will take a few days to calm down, but they don’t feel too bad right now. She also gave me a tropical-flavoured fluoride treatment all over my teeth, which had a yummy taste. I didn’t know that existed either! Much better than the old obvious bright-green fluoride-itself taste.

I’m having a think about it, what I should do. What do you guys think?

At least Ripofferson’s out of the picture now. They rang me again yesterday to ask if I’d made a decision yet, and I was like, “Nah, I haven’t decided yet.” The whole time I was thinking, “Yeah fucking right.... As if.”

And I have clean teeth now! :D

I went over the Vish and James’ last night and we went to the Indian store, where Vish told me to get a bottle of clove oil. It’s what he has been using because he’s been having teeth problems lately also. He swears by it, so I picked up a bottle (it was only $3) and even though it says ‘Not for medicinal use’, he reckons they only put that on there because they want to rip people off with the weaker, more expensive stuff sold in the pharmacies. True that.
We get back to theirs and Vish shows me how to use it. Put some on a cotton tip and basically soak it around the tooth. Much safer than the tea-tree oil which I can’t ingest. This stuff I can. It basically just numbs the gum right up, much like the Bonjela does, but it’s way more effective. I tried some last night and I haven’t even had a problem today, even whilst at the dentist.

Decisions, decisions!