Dentists and disorganisation.

11:48
I thought this would be an important post to make, since people may wonder about the experience or what happens when you need to see a dentist in France. I do. That is why I am sat here in the waiting room of a dentist's surgery.

First off, I want to mention how little information I have. Whether that is my own fault, or other peoples fault, I don't know. I was told: go to France. I'm in France. Do I have insurance? I don't think so. All I have is an EHIC.
When I woke up this morning, I did not know what time my appointment was, as it was booked for me by my employers. Nor did I know how I was to get there, what I would need to do, how much it may cost. Nothing. I've tried looking on the internet but I can't find much up to date information on this. Sat here in the waiting room, all I can assume is that it's going to end up costing me loads of money which for one reason or another I won't be able to claim back.

So I'm sat in the waiting room, despite my appointment being at 11:45. Its 11:53. Guess its not just England where you're always late to go in. There's no receptionist here, or any such thing. Just 6 chairs in a small room with a door going into... A surgery? Or a corridor? I'm not really sure. I've waited here and a woman (dental nurse? Receptionist? Somebody...) Came to ask me if I had 'une carte'. Ah. A card. Urm. My EHIC card? So I handed her that, guessing that's what she wanted...

She kind of looked at it as if it wasn't what she expected, but then also told me to sit down because other people were still going to be first. It was quite rude actually. Being that she wanted things from me, and it was time for my appointment, I wouldn't say that it was wrong of me to assume that I would be going in. Nope. Okay then.

12:15
So I was called in and on the other side of the door it was just a dentists surgery with a desk in the corner which would have been the reception if they had one. The lady from earlier was a dental nurse but also did anything you'd expect a receptionist to do. They both spoke very good english, especially the dentist himself. I wasn't sure if he was English or French, but I didn't look at his name so I wasn't sure.

Essentially, he didn't do any permanent work- just put a dressing on it to stop the exposure (part of my tooth has been missing for the past year, but recently its been hurting). And he's prescribed some antibiotics and some kind of mouthwash. The appointment itself cost 30€, and the prescription stuff was just over 6€, but I paid by card (an English one) so god knows how much it actually cost.

Now I am on my way back to the campsite. He's said that I should go back to a dentist when I'm in England, but if anything is up before then, I should go back. Given I'm only back in England for just over a week, without a registered dentist at my mother's, its going to be interesting trying to fit it in. I'd rather do it before Japan though because, by the sounds of it, its just a temporary fix, and I don't want to have to work this out in Japan.

So that was my super exciting visit to the dentist. It wasn't as horrific as my visits to the dentist normally are, but I guess that's because they weren't doing anything permanent.