First Navy Dental Experience

I went to the same dentist for all of my childhood, until he retired and the guy who took over his practice was my second dentist.  Then when I lived in Raleigh, I saw the same dentist for 7 years.  And I had my third dentist in California.  All the dentists did things a little differently.  My childhood dentist did all the cleanings and examines himself.  The hygienist assisted him.  In Raleigh, the dentist only did the examines and the hygienist did the cleanings.  In California, the dentist did 50% of the cleaning and all of the examine. I probably would say I enjoyed the dentist doing everything but that is just me.  

I think we take little things for granted.  I just assumed all dental experiences would be similar to what I have had in the past.  I have been to three different dentists in my life so I know things are not always identical but for the most part, you go get xrays once a year, cleanings twice a year.  In the past couple of years, the dentists started providing shades to help you with the glaring light.  Usually you get a toothbrush at the end and ALWAYS I get yelled at for not flossing.  If you have any problems, you come back for another appointment.

Here, it is different (you are only allowed to get one cleaning a year).  I made my appointment, got a babysitter, and was ready to come home with nice clean teeth.  I even prepared myself for the standard flossing lecture.  It didn’t go quite like I anticipated.

The x-rays were INSANE.  I had the standard “bite on this” and they took the digital x-rays.  Then I had to stand in this machine and bite down while the machine scanned around my entire head.  I felt like I was getting a head xray but apparently it gives a full view of your teeth in one picture that is “flat”.  After the xrays, I was called back into the actual dental chair.  I had my teeth examined by the dentist and got my “flossing is awesome” lecture.  I even got a prescription for toothpaste (who knew they did that!).  Then it was over.  The end of the appointment.  WHAT?!!  I had to make another appointment for cleaning.  This was not something a new mom wants to hear.  A new mom wants everything to happen at once.

I made my appointment to come back for my cleaning and went home without that satisfied feeling of clean teeth.  I was VERY lucky to have a good friend who was willing to keep the baby again so I could get my teeth cleaned without having to worry about the baby. 

The hygienists was an Italian man named Felix.  He had lots of pictures of his child on the walls.  One was a bit creepy, the baby and him in the shower.  He also wanted to discuss his goals of becoming a landlord and renting to Americans.  He is debating between buying a single family home for 300,000 euro or buying a 6 family home with shared stairs (an apartment building) and one box for the car for 130,000-200,000 euro.  He didn’t want to put his house up as collateral and pick the wrong one because he would lose his home.  He also told me that I needed to learn Italian before my next cleaning.  I should learn one new word a day.  This I think might be good advice…now to find the motivation/time to do this!  After about 10 minutes of real estate discussion, he finally started cleaning my teeth.  I usually close my eyes during the cleaning so I don’t know specific tools etc but I do know that usually the hygeniest uses more than one tool.  And usually they are gentle with the tool.  He was so rough and quick with his one tool.  I think the cleaning took about 5-10 minutes.  He then did the toothpaste spinning tool on my teeth and the water to rinse followed by the flossing.  The weirdest part was the fluoride.  I have had the kind where it is painted on your teeth.  I have also had the kind where you gargle and then spit, making sure that you do not swallow.  This was neither of those.  He put some bubblegum flavored foam in a mouth guard and then made me bit the mouth guard.  During this weird moment when you are trying not to gag, I got the “you must floss” lecture and told I brush my teeth incorrectly.  You are not supposed to go side to side, or up and down, or in a circle (only kids can do the circle).  

So in the end, I got the clean teeth feeling even though it took two visits and a weird pseudo Italian dentist experience.  I also got the flossing lecture twice.  And prescription toothpaste but no toothbrush.  And have no clue how to actually brush my teeth.