Eric's Beijing Diary

Bought myself a Christmas present today. My new front tooth. It's a good tooth, and it sure is nice to be able to talk without whistling, but the price of gold is up, so I think that may have affected the price. 2300 RMB. More than 300 US dollars. That's less than what it would cost in the US even with dental insurance, but it still seems high. My friends are convinced I am being cheated. I don't know. Perhaps they are right. It is hard to know to what extent the fact that I am a foreigner influenced the price the doctor charged me. Most of my friends have never been to a dentist. Chinese people don't like sweets that much. So they are not necessarily qualified to know what a crown should cost. Most irritating to me is the fact that I have put off crowning that tooth for more than 30 years, and it had to go now. It's kinda unnerving, too, because I am running out of original teeth in case I need a bridge. The tooth to the right of it was root canaled at the same time. If that root is good, I will be alright--I can crown it. But if not, I am in trouble, because the tooth on the other side is a cantilever bridge I have had since I was in junior high. And it is glued to the tooth next to it, which, fortunately, has never had any problem. You see my point. If one of those teeth goes bad, I could end up doing a major rebuild. Keeping my fingers crossed.