Tong

The dentist is tell me to relax as she is poking me and asking me “does this hurt” when we both know that when she hits “the spot”, she won’t need to ask. She finally does with some kind of frozen Q-tip contraction and then for good measures verifies that it isn’t just one tooth that is causing pain, but two. It feels like a scene from Marathon Man where the Dustin Hoffman character is pursued to talk by a dentist with pliers. With the area of pain identified, I head for X-rays which are fairly painless but apparently not safe as the technician runs the triggering cord outside the office as he snaps the pictures. Then I sit and wait in the lobby while the film develops and the dentist figures out what it all means. I’m pretty sure what it will mean for me.

While I sit, Elisa is standing in between Yang’s legs and is looking at me worried. She says “baba tong ma?” which means “is daddy in pain?” to which I say not right now but thinking that I will be in soon. I ask Elisa if she wants to hug me since she looks very sympathetic to my cause.  She shakes her head no. I think, smart girl, this pain thing can be kind of contagious.

When we first planned to move to China, I made sure to get my teeth cleaned and cavities filled before I came. The fear of the unknown – in this case Chinese dentists – motivated me. I mean, I am certainly not prejudiced toward Chinese but my general impression is that like the British, tooth care isn’t near the top of their priorities. Not to mention a perceived higher pain threshold than I have. My experience with dentists in China, has been so-so, no better and no worse than my experience in the states. Cleanings, fine. Teeth whitening, mixed bag. Up sold once on cavities which I did not get fixed. The only real unpleasant experience I had was a year ago when the dentist replaced a filling and only used a surface anesthesia. By the time she was done, I would have said anything to leave and I did not dare to go back. It took a month before my tooth wasn’t sore and even then I still favored it when chewing. Then, on my last trip to the states while doing something as innocuous as drinking water – pain.

So, here I am back at the same dental clinic getting the same tooth worked on but with a different dentist. Elisa wondering if I am in pain and me wondering too. The doctor calls me in, says that one of my filling’s is has “leakage” which I take means some nerves are getting exposed. And then there is a crack line on another tooth and that I should not do do heavy chewing on it. She says she will replace two fillings – this will be the fourth time for at least one of them – and I’m trying to decide whether to go through with it. I mean, I’ve been meaning to drink more tea anyway and she hasn’t said the magic word “root canal”. I decided to go forth and unlike the dentist last year, she shoots my gums with local anesthesia. Still pain in spots, she can tell when she hits them and apologies. I think she’s the dentist from marathon man again.

But then it is over, I have enough fillings to fill a toxic waste dump, and Elisa is waiting for me outside. My lower jaw and lips are numb as I try to smile when Elisa asks me “baba tong ma?”. She still does not want me to hold her.