On Nov. 23, 2005 I moved to The Hague from Washington, DC. This is my new Dutch life.

3.17.2006

Talent for Causing Pain

My tooth hurts. Really hurts. The pain shoots up into my cheek. Aleve alleviates it somewhat, and some days it doesn't even hurt at all. But I need to come to terms with reality. I need to find a dentist. Probably sooner rather than later.

Am I afraid? Oh yes I am. I spent enough time in the dentist's and orthodontist's chair during childhood to last my whole life. The scrape, scrape sound of that hook. Ugh. The high-pitched buzz of that rotary sander thingy. Argh. That antiseptic smell. Gag. That tiny, excrutiatingly painful needle. Save me, Jeebus.

I'm also afraid of Dutch dentists. I'm afraid of Dutch healthcare. After all, they might have killed Milosevic (just kidding!) I'm afraid of the unknown in so much as it affects my health. What if I need a root canal and the Dutch prefer extraction? Will I need to make an emergency trip back to the US to have my roots canaled? Ok, what is a root canal anyway? I wonder if they're into sedation dentistry here. I'll take two of those, please. This may hurt my wallet more than it hurts me.

The worst thing about dentists is that they tend to scold you - a lot - when you haven't dropped by in awhile. I'm sure Dutch dentists, with their direct nature and all, will particularly love to chastise me. Surely they know that everyone is afraid of them, those masochists. The dentist hurts you, and it's completely natural to avoid things that cause you pain. It's smart really.

Man, I gotta do something about this tooth though.

*sigh*

Wish me luck.

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2 Comments:

Blogger Reid said...

If they start scolding you, get them to scold you in Dutch. Maybe you won't have learned enough yet to know what they're saying, and you can pretend they're complimenting you.

12:23 PM GMT+1

 
Blogger Robert MacMillan said...

Marc Fisher at washingtonpost.com says this is a hurdle for anyone seeking Dutch citizenship (not that you're doing that):

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/rawfisher/2006/03/and_the_danes_are_saying_hey_a.html

5:20 PM GMT+1

 

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