More Adventures of a Cabana Boy

Sunday night I broke a filling chewing on some hard candy. Now I know that you’re supposed to let hard candy dissolve slowly but I’m an impatient cabana boy.  The missing filling left some sharp edges but no pain so I went to bed (Becky having already retired).

Monday, I didn’t think about my broken filling all day but did mention it to Becky in the evening and she promptly went ballistic and insisted I get it fixed immediately. I told her I would when I had the chance but visiting my own dentist takes me some time to work up my courage and to visit a strange dentist in a foreign country made my blood run cold.

Tuesday I spent the morning building a cinder block barbeque in our back yard and so of course had no time for a dentist visit. That evening I did receive a severe tongue lashing from my bride about not getting it fixed and that she was not going to feel sorry for me if I didn’t take care of it.

Wednesday I substituted all day at Coop school. I was the science teacher for the day for which I am owed the handsome sum of twenty dollars.  I was also able to narrow down my options for dentistry. It was either go to the community hospital where the dental clinic for the country is located and pay $17 for my visit or try the one independent dentist on the island. Being an avowed capitalist I decided to visit the private dentist no matter the cost.

Thursday morning after cleaning the house I screwed up my courage and drove downtown to the General Dentistry Office to get my filling fixed. Walking in the door was not reassuring. The small reception area had three children watching cartoons and no adult in sight, but the oldest boy (8) said something (in Filipino I think) and Dr. Ramos walked out of the back and introduced himself. I explained my needs and asked to make an appointment, thinking I would get a reprieve. No such luck. Dr. Ramos said he could fix me up right then unless I had somewhere else to be. I summoned my courage and back we went into the treatment area.

Dr. Ramos ushered me into a pretty standard dental chair and began to make preparations. I looked around the treatment room trying to gauge the level of barbarous treatment I was about to subjected to. I would say that the equipment reminded me of what I remember a dentist treatment room looked like circa 1990. No TV or video. Not a lot of plastic. Chrome and porcelain seemed to dominate but I was reasonably sure Dr. Ramos was really in the dental business. Anyway, a brief exam, a little drilling to remove the rest of the filling, a little prep work on the hole, then a new filling. All done in 40 minutes from start to finish. The total bill for this procedure was 40 US dollars. I will get a price list for services for Stacey and Kim so they can stay competitive.

Happy to be out of the dentist with minimal pain I decided to reward myself by buying the television set I’ve been eyeing. So now my tooth is fixed, my X-box is up and running, and Becky is happy. Life’s tough when you’re a Cabana Boy.

Willard