Teeth Be All Crazy and Stuff… Plus Martyr’s Park and Things

Howdy y’all! This slack-jawed yokel finally got back on track for his Chinese tooth expedition! It started about 3 weeks ago… well actually it started 3 months ago when I went through the joy of having my tooth pulled because of a failed root canal done years ago. After shopping around; comparing price and quality I decided to use the Guangzhou School of Stomatology (http://www.zdkqyy.com/) near Martyr’s Park. I trusted the quality; the building was clean and sanitary; the dentist on staff seemed very knowledgeable and friendly (plus I was tired of shopping around and wanted to get this shit done with.) The week before I had half of a root canal done at Clifford Hospital. I would have done the implant there but it was too expensive (closer to $3,000 USD). So, I had to get that finished and have the dental surgery done as well. I met with the dentist who said he could schedule me for surgery that day but not until 4:30 PM and not before I had a series of X-rays and an MRI done before lunch (in China, they tend to take lunch breaks anywhere from 1-2 hours and shut everything down.) Once lunch was over I went through the logistical process of scheduling, explaining and having the root canal done. They didn’t use any anesthetics for this… It didn’t hurt but it felt awfully strange. They really are reluctant to reduce or eliminate pain here; it seems to be a cultural thing because Eve (my Chinese boss/co-worker who graciously went with me to eliminate the language barrier) explained to me that her mother would tell her as child that pain was a good thing and that illness (or anything) would heal faster the more pain you felt. As you can imagine, this was very comforting with surgery forthcoming… After the root canal I waited nervously for the surgery. Lauren showed up for moral support… what a sweetheart.

I’ll explain what it is they did/will do. First off, my bone line is too high so they have to do a bone augmentation to extend my bone to a close enough distance where the tooth implant can reach it and be secure. Sometimes they use bone from your body (your chin or hip typically) or they can use bone from an animal… In my case, they would use an artificial or synthetic material that will be screwed into my skull through my gums, where the tooth was. After the material heals and my bone grows into it, they can proceed with the actual tooth implant. This is basically a three part process and because I have to have the synthetic graft, it makes it about twice as expensive as it would be without it; around $2,200 USD.

Back to the surgery… My heart was racing; I’ve never had surgery before and based on the pain I felt from the tooth extraction I was cautiously optimistic that this wouldn’t hurt as much… Nope. They brought me into the room and tried to calm my nerves… I tried to oblige them but let’s face it, I felt like I was in some organ harvesting backroom by that point. They iodined by whole face and mouth then gave me a series of about 6-8 shots (hard to tell as I stopped feeling them)… The last shot looked like the width of a pencil as I saw and felt it go in… I think I would rather have had an enema by that point. My eyes were watering but I felt pretty numb so I was hopeful that this was the extent of the pain… The first incision he made I could somewhat feel… It didn’t really hurt but I felt it… My heart started to race but luckily that was about all I felt. I don’t know what the surgery looked like and I can’t decide if I would re-watch it if I had the chance… I think not. I could feel the vibrations of power tool as it drilled into my skill. Still no pain which was nice… until the stitches. I didn’t feel it at first but the last 3 hit the same spot in my mouth that I felt initially… except by this point the anesthetics weren’t doing anything. I swear, I can still feel that giant-sized needle going in and out. I guess with all of that pain I was certain to heal much faster right?

Then it was over… the dentist was very nice and in his broken English he congratulated me that the surgery was successful. Lauren and Eve laughed at how swollen my lips were and we took a taxi home. The next weekend I returned for a checkup… Everything was healing nicely. I couldn’t wear my denture (fake tooth) and for 2 weeks I could only eat soft food… I was expecting to have the stitches taken out but that would have to be the next week. I returned again (this was yesterday morning) and had the stitches taken out… So now I will wait 4-5 months for my bone to attach to the artificial bone and heal. I can understand why people hate the dentist. Now I get to wear my fake tooth and eat what I want again… A welcome change.

Here is a link that help explains everything involved in a tooth implant if anyone is interested:

 

Afterward I decided to check out Martyr’s Park. It was absolutely beautiful! There were all sorts of people there, young and old; hundreds of people practicing t’ai chi or playing games… Everyone seemed so peaceful with their family and loved ones. It was both invigorating and relaxing for me. The park was huge; filled by ponds with paddle boats, large stone statues, perfectly cut trees and shrubbery, thousands of stairs, several short trails and well kept gardens where you are required to be silent. You couldn’t ask for better weather; it felt like a warm Spring day back home…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

when you see it…

School has been pretty hectic for Lauren and me lately but still a lot of fun. We took a field trip to a park with our kids on a nice day… Last month we had an open class where the parents of the students came and watched us teach a class. Everyone stresses about it but in the end it was a piece of cake. Some of the parents have told me they really enjoy my teaching style; that’s always nice to hear. Lauren’s open class went well too. She was nervous when we came here about her abilities as a teacher but now she is much more comfortable in her abilities and it shows. For December we are having a Christmas play where the kids sing a song and then do a short skit. My kids are doing “Let it Snow”… I’m playing guitar with them singing and they think I’m the coolest things since Ultra Man… Should be fun.

 

 

Hunter, graceful and frightened

 

Getting a tooth pulled, racial profiling and taking on a second job

Well I put it off before our trip to the Philippines but it had to be done: I had my tooth pulled when I got back and it was everything you pray it could never be.  The total cost was quite reasonable; I payed 480 RMB (about $80) for the tooth extraction, mold and temporary fake tooth.  Let me just start off by saying that anesthetics they use here might as well be children’s aspirin… They don’t give you a shot that lasts for the duration, they give you a shot until you need another shot (which is usually pretty quick).  My tooth in particular was a cock knocker… it came out in several parts.  It was also infected; the root canal I had done years ago failed and the tooth eroded from the inside out.  The anesthetics hurt more than the pain it prevented (granted, I have a pretty low tolerance for pain… also known as pussyitis). The worst part of the tooth was at the apex where the pain was the highest, the infection was the most sensitive and it was the hardest to get to. About two hours, seven shots and a vampire’s ransom in blood later; the tooth was out.  I will have to wait two months for a tooth implant… The clinic quoted me at around $450 for it, which is laughably cheap compared to Clifford hospital here in Guangzhou which quoted me at about $2200 minimum.  The difference is obviously the quality of care, cleanliness and English speaking dentists.  My work arranged for me to see a Chinese dentist with a translator so I had it done for much cheaper than it would have been at the hospital. The same goes for any future work; you will pay the “white foreigner” price if you go to a hospital like Clifford as opposed to a local clinic.  I plan on shopping around though; $450 seems too cheap when it comes to something serious as a tooth implant.

Lauren and a group of our co-workers went shopping for water-guns (we had a big water fight at the school with the kids) this week when a gaggle of cops approached them; because of where they were in China (as opposed to the area we work – Agile Gardens) the cops asked for their visa information and passport… Now most people would call this racial profiling in that they were asking for identification from the only white people…. and most people would be correct.  Some of the teachers had their passport and were free to go; others, like Lauren and a couple other teachers were not so lucky.  I had to take an hour taxi ride out to this police station in the middle of buttfuck nowhere (not really, it’s called Haizhu Square) to get their passports to them so they could go… as it turns out the paperwork they already had (a copy of their visa information) was enough and they let them go simultaneously as we arrived with the passports… They were detained a total of two hours…so that was pretty sweet.

In other news I was recently offered a second job with a sister company of CIEO to teach sports classes in the afternoon.  It’s actually a great gig in that it basically doubles my pay but I only work an extra 1.5 hours a day.  All in all I work around 20-25 hours a week and I get paid, well… let’s just say ‘way too much.’ Compared to what I was paid back in the States in the same line of work; it makes you wonder if it’s worth going back…

As mentioned above, last week we had a huge water fight at the school; it was a lot of fun.  Here are some of the pictures.