Ridiculous Idealism

This world which runs on money...

I've had a cavity in my tooth since like forever.

The previous filling fell out sometime in the midst of 2005 and I ignored it thinking that I will get myself to a dentist soon, I will, I will, I will.

I didn't.

While there is an important lesson about procrastination in this story, that's not my immediate concern. Procrastination is a chronic syndrome I'm unfortunately afflicted it and I've accepted it as a part of my life and it is of no importance whatsoever here.

In the face of an unexpected holiday, I finally decided to get my act together and get myself to the dentist. And I, like an idiot, landed up at HOSMAT. While Hosmat is well known for sports medicine and orthopeidics, I figured, that since it was closest to home and since it has a dentistry department, that's where I went.

I ran through reams of beaurocracy, filled in forms, paid the consultation fees, blah blah blah. And finally I went through to the doctor.

She poked and prodded at my mouth and then looked at me seriously.

"I think you need to go for a root canal."

I stiffened. My mind shut down, remembering the horror stories I've heard about root canals. I asked her if it was necessary, she said yes. She then took an x-ray of my tooth and sent me on my way.

The thing is, I've always been a little skeptical of HOSMAT. They've got a terrifyingly good reputation but I've also read about them being a little money oriented. They will prescribe unnecessary treatments for you to get money out of you. They will diagnose wrong treatments for the same reason. And when I asked a neighbour of mine, she told me that both her daughters AND her husband had been told to do a root canal by that same doctor.

This suspicion led me to another dentist. He looked into my mouth and said this:

"The cavity is deep so I'll take an X-ray just to make sure that it hasn't gone down to the roots."

The X-ray was taken. He looked at it carefully.

"You're very lucky. A week later and you would have had to do a root canal. We'll fill the cavity."

I returned home with cement in my tooth and a triumph at outsmarting the HOSMAT people.

posted by Books inc @ 5:32 AM