Time to find a dentist

I really need to post about the whole pregnancy process in Japan - its been fascinating.  However, the most recent adventure has been finding a dentist. When I went to the city office to report that I was pregnant, they made a big deal about going to the dentist and said that the city would cover part if not all of the cost of dental care.

I've always been regular about going to the dentist and take pride in never having had a cavity (can't last forever...). All of the documentation I saw about healthy pregnancies in the Japanese documentation (there was a lot) stressed the importance of visiting a dentist.

I wasn't sure whether this was just for a society that doesn't regularly go to the dentist (quite possible) or because there was some special dental treatment for pregnant women. It wasn't clear. In any case, I was happy to see a dentist, and was about due for a visit anyway.

The problem was finding a good dentist. Dentists are not hard to find in Japan. They seem to be on just about every corner. However, I've heard all kinds of horror stories about the quality of care you get. I have only been to the dentist once before - I thought I might be getting a cavity, so a friend found a place that looked modern and high tech. It was certainly that. After the dentist had determined that I did not in fact have any cavities, he dejectedly had me watch a fancy video on my personal monitor showing how they do root canals. They didn't ever suggest I needed a root canal - but I didn't go back.

Being nervous about the dentists in Japan has kept me returning to the US for dental care every year - even though I no longer have insurance to cover the visits. Unfortunately, this year, I will be too late in my pregnancy to make my annual trip home, so it was time to bite the bullet and find a a local dentist I could trust. Nobody around me seemed to have any recommendations - except for one dentist that was way up on a hill (and I'm too lazy).

I finally decided it was better to experiment when I don't have any pain or problems and find someone who can at least do a nice gentle cleaning. I noticed that the dentist across from my train station was open late, so I went and made an appointment for after work.

The result? The hygienists were pretty nervous about talking with a foreigner, but the dentist was great. She was very attentive and careful to explain things so I could understand. She didn't speak English, but she knew a lot of the dental vocabulary in English, so together we could work things out pretty well. The only problem I had was that there was no cleaning. She did check for cavities, congratulated me on being pregnant and asked if I had any questions, then the hygienist gave me this huge sales job with color graphs and charts about a special treatment they could do to keep my teeth looking like a 20-year-olds even when I'm 80 (they call it the 20/80 treatment), then they put some whitener on my front teeth and sent me on my way.

No cleaning.

I was really confused. Then I started looking at the packet of materials on the 20/80 treatment. From what I can tell, the treatment is just what I would consider a standard cleaning - scraping away tarter and polishing the teeth. I should have (and could have) asked more questions, but I was being passively confused, so now I have to go back again if I want a cleaning. Grrr. I'll probably just hide out for a month or so until I feel less dumb and then go schedule a proper cleaning.

I guess I should be happy that I found a nice dentist who isn't too pushy.