On more than one occasion, I can recall my mother saying “Dana Willard Moran, I’m going to crown you!” [Why the middle name was invoked when I was in trouble I don’t know. Exactly what it meant to be crowned I don’t know either, because parental pressure was always applied to the gluteals and never wasted on my thick skull.] Many years later in Florida, my dentist made a crown for one of my molars, giving me a choice of white porcelain or gold for material. My grandmother had one gold tooth, and I thought it would be kind of cool to have one too. Since then, I have walked through neighborhoods where I regretted that impulse because I realized it was unsafe to smile broadly.
Flash forward to the summer of 2010, when I managed to break one rear molar on either side while visiting the States. I knew that I needed to have them addressed fairly soon- I don’t really like pain-but I also knew that my new dentist friend Daisy was both competent and reasonable: far less expensive than what I would have to pay in the US. So I opted to have the mouth overhaul done in the People’s Republic. Really my chief concern was communication. Daisy’s English ability is far ahead of my primitive Mandarin, but sometimes things break down a little. After my first visit last spring, I came home and said to Nanette, “I think I had a root canal.” I had never had one before, and Daisy was doing the best she could to explain; but “root canal” was not part of our shared vocabulary.
As we discussed my treatment, I asked whether she could also do something to fill the space created by an ancient extraction many years before. She proposed making a bridge by crowning the molars fore and aft of the hole. This brought the total number of crowns to 4 plus one fake tooth. We did not discuss the total number of hours I might have to recline in her new chair with my mouth propped open like a rattler getting milked; but let’s just say it was far longer altogether than I have ever had to gape.
The timing was a little off. We started in late August, and managed during a weekly visit to finish the temporary crowns and bridge just before National Day, October 1. Holidays are serious business here. From October 1 to 7, everything is put on hold. Everybody is on a week’s vacation at least, and sometimes more. My mouth impressions sat in a lab in Shenzhen for the fireworks and festivities. So rather than one to one and a half weeks of temporary, it dragged on to more than a month.
Then last Friday, the permanent crowning took place. What a difference! No rough edges, a near-perfect bite , and good color match make for “good as new”. I can once again masticate bilaterally- chew things on both sides of my mouth. One side benefit is no more shredding of floss is some difficult spaces.
I had been told that medical and dental care here would not be comparable to the States. What I find interesting is that my Chinese lab does work for American dentists [ with German material]. And I bet they don’t charge Chinese prices for them either. While there were some procedural differences in the whole process, there was nothing I found inferior or scary. I’d do the whole thing over again in a minute. [Well maybe I wouldn’t go so far as that. Who enjoys the dentist’s chair?]
I had thought I would have to wait for my Crowns. And I still have Hope to add to my collection someday. But for now I can smile broadly with one glittering gold and four antique white.
I enjoy reading your comments about your childhood. Since we grew up in the same family I know well things like invoking the middle name when we were in trouble as well as the phrase, “I’m going to crown you”. I can also understand how reasonable dr’s fees can be; I relate with so many of your :foreign experiences. Please keep on writing!-sfc