Our day ended on an interesting note today. We had been home from school for about an hour, starting a simple dinner of eggs and rice with veggies, when I looked out the window and saw an incredible rainbow. I went to get my camera and called to everyone to come and take a look. Before I managed to get back I heard a loud crash and this crazy scramble and gasping sound. Veronika and Viktor were frantic. David was hunched over. ..I was in a bit of shock and scared our of my pants, because it looked like something was really wrong, but during the split second in which this occurred , I was totally oblivious and couldn't figure it out.
To make a long story short, David ran into the glass sliding door (which was only half open) and knocked out a piece of his front tooth. Yes, his beautiful white adult tooth. You can only imagine the scene and chaos that followed...After everything cooled down, especially Stepan, who is really stressed with these situations - when the kids get hurt, we managed to find and call a dental office that is widely recommended by many of our colleagues, and it was listed in our "Living in HCMC" booklet. It was great. I called the dentist at 6:15pm. And we were booked for 7pm. Honestly , a huge relief, because we have never dealt with a tooth emergency like this.
The office texted me their address. I showed it to the cab driver and in a few minutes and 70,000 vnd we were there. The whole thing was a little surreal: we're in Vietnam, sitting in a cab, driving to the dentist, with a piece of David tooth sitting in a glass of milk (the dentist had said to put the chipped part of the tooth in milk and bring it. ..to try and save it? ? I didn't know that was even possible. .. it turned out that the broken part was too small...no nerve involved. ..so not good for reattaching, but good news for David.
Sakura Dental Clinic in D7
The dentist we dealt with (I need to find out her name next time) was wonderful. Her English was very good and she explained everything very well. They took x-rays and found that there was no nerve damage, but she said it would have to be monitored every six months. When "the tooth let out the pain", they will fix David's tooth. He has 1-2 weeks of looking like a tough guy!
The next part was the bill. Medical insurance does not cover dental expenses, so needless to say we were not too thrilled about the cost, but making sure your child is well and taken care of really is priceless. However, what I learned is that for western standards, dental charges really are minimal in Vietnam - and I am talking about a modern "western" standards dental clinic. The x-ray and check up cost a total of 150,000 vnd. That is about 7 USD. We also had a prescription to fill for anti inflammatories and pain killers...just in case. ..that came to 16,000 vnd or about 75 cents US. I was really surprised by this. On one side thinking how is it fair that these people study so hard and work as hard as they do, and their compensation seems so minimal, on the other side thinking how can North American dentists and drug companies justify charging the arm and leg that they do. ..I know overhead, education cost, etc, etc...but still. It really is eye opening and hard evidece that there is a WORLD of difference between our two "worlds".
The pharmacy. This is a real, live dragonfly. Beautiful. The pharmacy was open to the street. ..like most shops here...there are little critters everywhere.
After all was said and done we stopped off at our favourite smoothie shop , because we just happened to be around the corner.
Our favourite smoothie stand. Outside the Citimart, around the corner from the Bizu...starting to figure my way around. ...NOT!
David...not so miserable anymore. ..and the tooth doesn't look that bad either. Looks worse in a close up though. ..I promised not to post that one.
How about a "special" smoothie? Check out those ingredients! Our school canteen actually serves "special" coffee. ..it's coffee with Bailey's...lol...before I was privy to this information, I asked a teacher one day what was special about it, because it was double the price. Now I know. ;-) Apparently, at one point they were selling it to students too...seriously? ? But when the administrators were notified they put an end to it. NOT for students...only for teachers. ..lol...only in Vietnam. Still cracks me up when I think about this.
Right now...all is quiet on the Eastern front. Everyone is asleep and I am following suit. It is actually one month today that we landed in HCMC...what a month it has been! Good night.
The rainbow that started it all...photo credit goes to my friend Sonia. My photo is on my Nikon and I haven't even checked to see if it turned out. Maybe tomorrow.
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