American Teeth

I went to the dentist today. We don't have a car yet (mostly because I still refuse to learn to drive and Hamid has to get his social security card before he can get a license/insurance/car - we want a Ford Escape. Well, what I really want is a classic Corvette, but there's no room for the darling little person we're trying to invent) Anyway...my mom had to drive me to the dentist. Imagine. I just turned 34 and my mother had to come and pick me up at 8:15 a.m. and drive me to the dentist. Worse still, she made the appointment for me in the first place. Of course, instead of looking at it like, 'What happened to your independence?!' you could say 'Wow your mom is a sweetheart!' because she is, and I still am. It's just that we're literally in the middle of the desert here and our Haro mountain bikes are still on order and well, I just told you the why's of our lack of transportation.

The people at the dentist's office were some of the happiest, nicest humans I've ever met. I wondered to myself how that many people could be so very enthusiastic to wake up so darn early just so they could scrape junk off of other peoples' teeth in a big white office in the middle of the Arizona desert; but there they were, super friendly and clearly well-rested. It was the most fun I've ever had at the dentist, even though they told me I have three cavities. One of which is behind the veneer that was broken (and then repaired by an angel of a French dentist who just happened to be in Tamil Nadu that season). Of course this means the veneer has to be replaced which means the one next to it has to be replaced too (I only have the two...but if they don't match then really what's the point of having them?). And if I'm going to get new veneers I've got to have my teeth whitened because I did finally give up those nasty cigarettes (hooray for me! Six weeks cold turkey and not a craving in sight!). I sat there nodding and smiling, adding oral hygeine procedures to my shopping list as we all chatted on about the surprising importance of flossing while pregnant and thought nothing of the cost of any of it until they showed me the bill.

Now, one other thing we don't have (yet?) is insurance. I know, I know...it seems crazy to try to get pregnant if there's no insurance what with the whole pre-existing condition rule imposed on us poor consumers by the insurance companies. I'm not even going there right now and will explain my logic at a later date. For now, let's just say we've got it covered. But not having insurance means these bills get paid out of pocket and out of pocket in the United States is a far cry from out of pocket everywhere-else-I've-lived-the-past-four-years. I think my emergency veneer repair in India cost a whopping $50; compare that to the cost of the original veneer in Seattle: $600. Here, in the middle of nowhere, where apparently veneer-stuff is highly coveted and more valuable I have to pay $900 for each one. You do the math. But it's worth it, every single shiny copper Abe. We have no idea how much we take for granted here in the States, how exceptional our health care, vision care, and dental care options are. How the fact that we even have options is extraordinary. We forget, or never even realize maybe, just how blessed we are and what a gift it is that the dentist doesn't just knock out the cavity-laden teeth with a stone hammer and plunk a dirty piece of ripped cotton shirt over the gaping, bloody hole (this happened to a friend of mine in India...truth). We don't know it, but the rest of the world certainly does.

While we were living in Iran, Hamid and I went to the dentist of his childhood to get our teeth cleaned. It was a fairly uneventful visit aside from the very startling moment when the otherwise mute doctor popped up from his work to point out in quite a loud voice, "You have goooood American teeth! Europeans, not so much. Iran, OK. But Americans, and Canadians - you Americans all have wonderful teeth!"