Earlier I called the dentist because I have an appointment this month but I couldn’t remember the right date and time. When I did, I realised something I’d forgotten about since the last time I went to the dentist about half a year ago. Before I’d left to live in London for three years I had a very good dentist. Whilst living in London I had found another good dentist but when I’d moved back to the Netherlands my former dentist in Amsterdam was no longer there, the practice had closed and I had no records or anything nor was there any information about what had happened to the practice and dentists in the meantime. So I had to look for another one which is difficult in Amsterdam, as there are many bad dentists.

I’ve always been lucky with regard to my teeth, they’re strong, clean and I haven’t had cavities in ages. The dentist I had whilst growing up was an extremely bad one. He once filled two ‘cavities’ that weren’t real cavities in order to claim insurance money. I just knew he was lying because I’d never had any and he always told me everything was fine. Plus these fillings were on either side of my jaw on the exact same spots, well hidden when I’d smile. Because I didn’t have any problems until my 18th, my insurance would cover extra treatments (like xrays and fluoride therapy) that he was supposed to give which he never did. I suspect he just kept claiming insurance money since he’d renovated his practice.

The dentist in the UK was a very good one, he took xrays for the first time in ten years. I had to pay for treatments but I was fine with that, I would never cut down on expenses dentist-wise, what needs to be done needs to be done. These treatments were not that expensive anyway so all was good until I moved back to the Netherlands. Back then I postponed looking for one. I’d asked around to see if some of my friends could recommend their dentist but none of them were really suitable, either due to location or expenses until one of my friends recommended hers to me which was nearby and extremely good. She had a lot of dental issues in the past so when she tells me hers is good than I believe her instantly!

I called the practice and was very happy to hear I could make an appointment after office hours, which is normally not the case. Unfortunately -because I had been putting things off- I did have one cavity which had grown for about five years, in a very unpleasant spot: just below my gum all the way in the back and difficult to reach. I had to come back another day to have it filled. A few weeks later it was done, it felt weird for a while because it took forever for the anesthetic to start working. Also the dentist probably had drilled too close to the root so I couldn’t bite on the left side without experiencing severe pain and had to chew really slow in order to avoid putting pressure between upper and lower molar.

This pain didn’t go away after a month and half so I called the dentist again, he told me the pain would either disappear -which could take weeks, months or even years- or stay forever… If that was the case, the root had been damaged and needed to be taken out; my worst nightmare. Here I am, happy about finally finding the right dentist and then having a serious issue all of a sudden which I’d never had before. I agreed with the dentist that I would wait half a year, until the next checkup, so see what would happen. So this morning when I called about the appointment I suddenly realised that the pain is almost nearly gone after over six months. The moment I realised, I was grinning and smiling like the Cheshire Cat!

Let’s hope it stays this way