Seeing a Chinese Dentist

Well, wouldn't you know? Just because you tell the dentist you see in America a week before leaving the country that you can't possibly have oral surgery done does not mean that your mouth finds a way to magically heal itself. No, it just means you get to have that oral surgery in China! I happen to be super lucky and have not just a wisdom tooth that needed to be pulled but a nice little case of gingivitis. I swear I brush my teeth two times a day...why do they hate me all of a sudden? I've put it off as long as I could, but at some point realized I wasn't going to make it the whole year so I might as well get the pain in my mouth checked out. Sarah in the office was incredibly helpful and found a nice little dental cli it downtown with an English speaking doctor! (Only one though, and not perfect English, but pretty good.) 

It is a smaller clinic, but wasn't butcher shop reminiscent as a friend insisted all Chinese dentists were. This one even took a stab at western style decorations with an aquarium in the lobby!

You have to hand it to communist countries, they provide super affordable healthcare. My checkup was absolutely free. Then Dr.Zhou started preparing the gum by working at it with some kind of medicine for two weeks that only cost 50 rmb ($8.50) a session. This week was the big one. They numbed the area, and since I didn't get the luxury of getting knocked out by gas, I just tried to keep my eyes shut so I didn't have to see three Chinese people huddled over my face holding various sharp looking instruments. They literally sewed up my gums (I didn't even know you could do that!) and then holding my head still with one arm and pulling on the tooth with the other, Zhou yanked the wisdom tooth out. Surprisingly quickly I must say for such a skinny guy. The total cost for both operations? 300 rmb (50$). I even got some medicine and painkillers thrown in for free.

In summary, going to the dentist in China for surgery is not that bad. It's not the most enjoyable thing in the world, but that's the nature of dentistry. My recommendation for anyone who finds themselves in a similar position, make sure the doctor speaks English and takes his time to explain to you exactly what it is that he is going to do before hand. The last thing you'd want is to have a mouth full of gaping holes after a visit!

And....here's a gross shot of my bloody tooth and the crazy things that were in my mouth:

Hong Kong vs China

Until I met a someone who was from Hong Kong, I'll admit I was ignorant of the distinction between the special economic zone and the country of China. To me, they both spoke Chinese (which technically they do but it's Cantonese and mandarin, which are as different asPortuguese and Spanish) so were the same. However, I can say having been there even though just ever so briefly, that that previous assumption is not true. Hong Kong really is not China. They'd been under colonial rule since the mid-1850s and it feels it. Hong Kong really is like a slightly asian-ed version of Britian. They've got the double decker buses, driving on the wrong side of the road (ha!) , every western food imaginable - including Mrs. Fields Cookies - street names I can actually pronounce and a crap ton of white people to boot!

But while it was nice to feel pretty much back home, I have to admit I kind of missed China. Well, no I did miss China, and I really missed Wuxi. What can I say? Ive been here nearly three months, and the place has really grown on me. I mean come on Hong Kong, why are you so stingy with the honking? Don't you know that you should just lay it on even if there's no one around? Or what about spitting? You mean to tell me you actually do swallow your spit? And taxi drivers speak english? So we dont need to do a five minute back and forth of all the possible ways to say "Chun Jiang Hua Yuan" everytime I try to go home? Oh, and what is this Cantonese thing? I just got 你好 down! You can't change it up on me now! And I know there are non-Chinese people all around, but not even a second glance? Here I'm guaranteed at least the basic triple take. I'm just saying, while Hong Kong was a nice reminder of home, don't be fooled into thinking its a slice of China. That's a completely different animal.