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This day has been sponsored by : Jean-Gustave


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Week 11 Day 5 - "The Dentist Marathon"
(Warning: If dentist stories are not your thing, you might want to skip this day...)

Perhaps a week or two after my arrival in Costa Rica I had horrible pains in my left cheek. Initially, I thought I'd just heroically live through the pains and was sure they'd eventually go away. NOT! When chewing solid food became a problem within a couple days, I decided to change strategy and go to a dentist. Fanny recommended someone nearby, and got me an appointment the same afternoon. After short examination, the dentist decided, she better refer me to a root specialist... ouch! She called a trusted expert and got me an appointment for the same evening. The root specialist was only a few blocks away, so off I went. Meanwhile, it seemed that every step caused a wave of pain.

Both professionals very clearly explained to me what they were doing and kept me up-to-date about their findings. I very much appreciated this, though sometimes, it was almost too much detail... Hence I spare you the most of the procedures of the root specialist and will only say that he ended by filling the root canal with some antibiotic. Less than an hour later I left his practice and all the pain seemed gone. I remember Rosita and Mery had made sure they kept some delicious dinner for me, but solid food was not yet an option.

I was told to come back a couple weeks later to have the antibiotic removed. By the time of the dentist appointment, I had caught a virus (see Dec 5th for details), and had to postpone the dentist appointment. Eventually, the dentist closed his practice for the rest of the year, as he moved next door to open a more modern locale in the new year. When I finally got at the beginning of January, I was impressed with the new equipment which included a flat screen mounted to the ceiling to disctract me with soothing pictures of flora and fauna while the root specialist was finalizing his cruel part of the operation. Once finished, he sent me back to the original dentist to have a new crown put in place. This required two more appointments, and time was starting to run out as the end of my stay neared.

Mind you, above was the short version of a longer story...

In summary, I was very impressed with the dental and medical services I encountered in Costa Rica, and - if I may say - I found them by far superior to anything I had experienced in the Netherlands the previous years.

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For today's sponsor

Jean-Gustave... bon, ce n'est pas le sujet le plus agréable, mais je t'assure c'était une experience "intéressante".