{"id":6002,"date":"2010-02-20T01:35:08","date_gmt":"2010-02-19T16:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=6002"},"modified":"2010-02-20T09:10:46","modified_gmt":"2010-02-20T00:10:46","slug":"tangent-dentistry-in-canada-wow-what-a-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=6002","title":{"rendered":"Tangent: Dentistry in Canada, wow, what a difference!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Handbook<\/a>\"\\\"<\/a>\"Foreign<\/a>\"\\\"<\/a>\"\u300c\u30b8\u30e3\u30d1\u30cb\u30fc\u30ba\u30fb\u30aa\u30f3\u30ea\u30fc\u3000\u5c0f\u6a3d\u5165\u6d74\u62d2\u5426\u554f\u984c\u3068\u4eba\u7a2e\u5dee\u5225\u300d\uff08\u660e\u77f3\u66f8\u5e97\uff09\"<\/a>\"JAPANESE<\/a>\"sourstrawberriesavatar\"<\/a>\"debitopodcastthumb\"<\/a>
\nUPDATES ON TWITTER: arudoudebito
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Hi Blog. \u00a0I didn’t do an update yesterday for a good reason — I was really quite overwhelmed in Edmonton. \u00a0Went to an excellent dentist on Tuesday, who saw a lot of work to be done and brought me back Wednesday and Thursday for three appointments of ultrasound and scaling (removal of buildup on teeth), one more appoint for x-rays (three, one that spins around your mouth) and some probing for cavities, one more for a periodontal check (I’m clear of it, but definitely have gingivitis), then two more appointments for replacement of fillings (four) and filling new cavities (five — one tooth was so bad in the back they had to remove about 60% of it above the gumline, since the decay had gone around an old filling and spread throughout underneath — I didn’t even have a toothache). \u00a0All manner of facial dams were constructed<\/p>\n

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and new types of novocaine, ones that don’t look like horse needles going in, were administered. \u00a0It wasn’t a comfortable experience, to be sure, but it wasn’t painful (I had a tooth pulled at age 7 or 8 — that set me on the straight and narrow when it comes to cleaning my teeth assiduously; five cavities at once were the first fillings I’ve had in about fifteen years.) \u00a0And all told, I spent about 9 and a half hours in the dentist chair. \u00a0Boy my mouth feels awful, but my teeth feel good (so good I think I’d rather take my food intravenously for awhile).<\/p>\n

But why is this a Debito.org issue? \u00a0Well, tangentially it is, since dentistry I consider to be a very lagging science in Japan (not ten years ago I had to search hard just to find a dentist in Sapporo who would wear gloves! \u00a0That’s something that sends tremors amongst my overseas dentists when I tell them). \u00a0Case in point: \u00a0Just look at the awful bridgework you see in old people around you (and full dentures are not at all uncommon — both my ex-parents in law had them). \u00a0Some of my students even today come to class with very inflamed sides of their mouth (some meat or seafood stuck in their teeth they just can’t dislodge with the ubiquitous toothpick), and when I recommend floss they say they’ve never even heard of it!<\/p>\n

I’m told (and I can’t substantiate right now; Debito.org Readers, douzo) that in Japan’s medical exam system, people get licensed for particular practices depending on their scores. \u00a0The people on the bottom go into dentistry. \u00a0That rings true to me, anyway. \u00a0My last teeth cleaning (in Japan) was about five years ago — and it was so bad (the doc wore gloves but a very stained smock) that they gave me an ultrasound (no scaling below the gums afterwards), then a flossing — and snapped the floss on what was left behind. \u00a0I told them to start again. \u00a0Cost 3000 yen all told. \u00a0Got what I paid for. \u00a0No doubt the black calculus that my dental hygienist scraped out (and proudly showed me a huge fleck of) was missed back then. \u00a0Ugh.<\/p>\n

So, how are other people’s experiences with dentistry in Japan? \u00a0Anyone know a good periodontist — if dentistry in Japan even specializes that far? \u00a0Floor is open to discussion. \u00a0Arudou Debito in Edmonton<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Quick blog entry for today, as I recover from 9.5 hours of dental work over three days at an excellent Edmonton dentist’s. It wasn’t a comfortable experience, to be sure, but it wasn’t painful (I had a tooth pulled at age 7 or 8 — that set me on the straight and narrow when it comes to cleaning my teeth assiduously; five cavities at once this time were the first fillings I’ve had in about fifteen years.) And all told, I spent about 9 and a half hours in the dentist chair. Boy my mouth feels awful, but my teeth feel good.<\/p>\n

But this is what happens when you’re as paranoid of Japanese dentists as I am. My last teeth cleaning (in Japan) was about five years ago — and it was so bad (the doc wore gloves but a very stained smock) that they gave me an ultrasound (no scaling below the gums afterwards), then a flossing — and snapped the floss on what was left behind. I told them to start again. Cost 3000 yen all told. Got what I paid for. No doubt the black calculus that my Canadian dental hygienist scraped out (and proudly showed me a huge fleck of) was missed back then. Ugh.<\/p>\n

So, how are other people’s experiences with dentistry in Japan? Floor is open to discussion. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discussions","category-tangents"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6002\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}