drills and suckers

'Zapraszam!' called the kindly looking woman in a white coat and face mask. I followed her, Marek behind. 'Er, is it ok if we come together?' I asked in my faltering Polish, 'I'm not Polish and I'm not going to understand everything'. She smiled, 'no problem.'

I sat in the dentist's chair first. 'Just a check-up'. It had been about a year since my last, which I felt a bit guilty about but I have a history of good teeth and regular visits so I wasn't expecting anything too major.

My parents have never been too happy with their teeth and always did everything possible to make sure their children's teeth were well looked after. I've had teeth covered in a special seal to protect them, four pulled as they were crowding each other out, various kinds of braces, teeth moved around until they are straight, and so on. My one and only filling was done years ago in the UK, and ever since I've had satisfactory check-ups in the UK and Belgium, the last Belgian dentist going so far as to proclaim 'vous avez une bouche magnifique!'

All this is just to explain my surprise when the nice Polish dentist came up from her inspection to inform me that I have six sick teeth. 'SIX??' I asked, as calmly as I could.

There are several possible reasons for this.

1. The last dentists were not thorough and missed some small cavities that have since had a chance to get worse.
2. My dental hygiene has suddenly taken a turn for the worse, and the Polish diet has too much sugar in it.
3. My nice new Polish dentist is over-zealous and trying to make money on her fillings...

This last uncharitable option I suppose is a possibility, although I chose to go with the first option. We decided to do three there and then, and to come back later for the rest (giving me the option to go for a second opinion I suppose).

I said yes to the anaesthetic (does anyone say no?) and she started drilling. She replaced my old filling (Marek's comment: It was a metal filling! Do they still have those in the UK?) with a nice shiny white one, and added a couple of small ones. She was the most meticulous, precise dentist I have ever come across, regularly checking whether it hurt and taking so much time over the finishing off I was amazed. She was chatty and friendly and totally professional. I was really impressed.

I was there for over an hour. 300 złotys = 25 euro a filling. Not bad I say, especially when the insurance is going to pay for it all.