Korean Dentist

No, I didn’t have to go to the dentist, but Jared did. For the past few days, his mouth had really been bothering him. He was pretty sure that it was because of his wisdom teeth, called love teeth in Korea. The pain went from non-existent to unbearable within a few days. Saturday he decided he should go to the dentist, and so he did. Without calling for an appointment, he went to the dentist at about 3:00 and expected to be lucky if he was seen that day. He ended up having to wait about 15 minutes to be seen. Even though the dentist was closing at 4pm, Jared was X-rayed and shown the results. One of his wisdom / love teeth was coming up from under his other molar. They knew that it would have to be removed.
Jared is leaving Wednesday to go to his sister’s wedding in Kansas. He’ll be gone for two weeks, not enough time to have his tooth pulled. Plus, he would be miserable during his first visit home in 8 months. ALSO, he doesn’t have insurance in America (like he does here). Even so, it would cost him about $1,000, as it did for his brother.
So, what did the dentist say to Jared after his Saturday walk-in appointment? “I’m sorry I can’t fit you in today. How does Monday sound?” Jared said that he had two morning classes and a late evening class. He said that he would try to make it in when he had time on Monday. And that’s what he did.
Yesterday (Monday), Jared went downtown before his evening class. They gave him a local anesthetic, drilled, and pulled out one of his love teeth. After maybe an hour, he was on his way back to school. He taught about an hour of the two hour class and then went home. Today, he has seemed just fine. He is a little swollen, but is teaching all of his classes.
Pretty crazy, huh? I wanted to write this story Saturday when I heard about the Saturday walk-in appointment, but had to wait until all the facts were in. I didn’t want to talk up the Korean health care system, then have Jared die during his surgery due to malpractice.
This probably seems hard to believe. I’m not exaggerating. And there are even harder to believe details about this story.
There’s no doubt that there are serious problems with the health care system in America, namely the cost. But with that high cost there are also some benefits. Great and well trained nurses like my Mom of course. During the first appointment, Jared noticed that the “hygienist” was cleaning an instrument with a lighter. They had different devices for cleaning, but they decided to clean this object with a lighter. During the second and final visit, she did a few other actions that would make you question the cleanliness of the operation, like using bare hands to handle a cotton swab used to fill in the gap where his love tooth was. I think that bacteria, like everything else, are seen as communal and are to be shared.
Assuming Jared doesn’t contract some weird mouth disease, I think that the benefits out weigh the dirty cons. The first appointment cost him an $8 co-pay, this included X-rays, and a local pain killer. The doctor gave him a prescription after the first appointment that cost him $3. The second appointment (the surgery) cost him $16. I will look more into what the actual costs are, before insurance. I think that they, like surgery and medical centers in Thailand, perform uninsured services at a cost that makes an included flight and week’s vacation cheaper than the co-pay costs in America. And this is without the wait.