A Trip to the Korean Dentist: Four Wisdom Teeth Enter, Three Wisdom Teeth Leave!

I dragged Justin downtown yesterday for a tooth cleaning and dental overhaul at a Korean dentist recommended to us by our coworker Gina. Dental care in Korea is very affordable, which is good because we don't have dental insurance. And fortunately, this dentist speaks perfect English.

Weird fact #1 about Korean dentistry: when you get your teeth cleaned, they put this little cloth over your face with the same cut-out shape you find on a doorknob hangar to let your mouth and nose peek out. Is it for privacy? I've always felt kind of awkward at the dentist trying to figure out where to look while the hygienist is doing my cleaning (I tend to obsessively analyze how well-groomed their eyebrows are), so having your eyes covered takes care of that question. It might also be to help them with work: when your face is under cloth, they can brace their hands against it and get better pressure on your teeth. A double-edged sword: both Justin and I commented afterwards that the cleaning felt rougher than US-style.

The dentist was terrific, though. I've never had my wisdom teeth out, and one of them came up in my back left. There's really not room for it, and it's been causing me some pain, so the dentist suggested I just have it out. I expected that. What I didn't expect was him saying we could do it then, and not make a later appointment. So I said yes, because I'm afraid of shots (I have had cavities filled without Novocain to avoid the shot) and figured I'd never get myself back down.

And it was so easy! I barely felt the shots, the tooth came right out, and I got my painkillers/antibiotics from the pharmacy downstairs. I spent the rest of the evening wondering when the Novocain would wear off, and then realizing that it already had. Worst moment of the whole thing: they have TV sets over the chairs, and somebody decided that the Anglophone would clearly choose to watch Eddie Murphy's Haunted Mansion movie. That hurt far more than the tooth extraction.

Weird fact #2: I asked him on the way out if I could keep my tooth, and he said yes, but it was illegal. I told him never mind, but ??? Why would it be illegal for me to keep my own tooth? If I'd left the dentist with the tooth in my head, that would be okay, but not if I left with it in my hand? Perhaps there is some sort of black-market trade in whitey teeth. If so, I wonder what it cures? And I'll never know, because I have so many that I won't catch it.