Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Unfortunate dental problems in Belgium; all our savings in one tooth

Yesterday was an unfortunate day.

Last weekend my most recently filled tooth (the only tooth ever fixed here in Belgium) broke, or actually cracked, and the outside part and the filling came loose. The next day I called around for a dentist and found, after dialing quite a few numbers, one who was willing to see me this week, yesterday. In the meantime the cracked tooth got infected, and my doctor prescribed me antibiotics which I have been taking. Yesterday when I finally could actually consult a dentist, the tooth was still wiggly but no longer hurting. The dentist, a seemingly nice lady in her late 30’s, administered a light anesthetic, and proceeded to break off the tooth entirely, then pulled of the loose filling, and x-rayed the entire side. She showed me the picture and said that the tooth had broken in such a way that fixing a crown to it would be complicated and not very durable, and suggested an implant instead. She said it would be more expensive but that it really was the only alternative and that it would last for the rest of my life. She illustrated the two possible procedures on a small white board, and wrote out the amounts; next to the picture of the (in reality not possible) crown she wrote 700, and next to the implant she wrote 700 by the fake root, and then a 1, a 2, by the fake tooth, and I had time to think “Only an extra 120€? I can live with that!” but, oh horror, she added two 0’s instead of one! The entire procedure, which is not covered by our insurance, would cost approximately 2000€ altogether. God help us. She then set up an appointment for me with her associated dental surgeon who would be placing the fake root – a screw – in my gum, charged me 50€ and said “See you on Friday!”

Our Belgian health insurance is in my opinion generally quite impressive. We pay around 50€ a year and most things are covered. A doctor’s visit costs 23€ and we get around 19€ back from the insurance. If I’m sick, I don’t loose any salary income. Dental, as it turns out however, is almost entirely left out. According to my dentist, a regular filling is covered, but dentures or in my case an implant are not.

The Husband did not take the news lightly. 2000€ is our entire buffer. In pain although numbed, I called work and said I would not be able to make it to work that afternoon, and the Husband and I recalculated our budget. We will manage, indeed, but only barely, and we will not have anything extra with us when we arrive in Cairo.

After a couple of tormenting discussions, the Husband went to pick up the boys from school, but took longer than usual to get back. Apparently as he had entered the school yard, he had seen the youngest one crying on a bench, and must have lost the key to the bike in the process of comforting. Not being able to recover it, he had detached the bike cart from the bike which was left by the school, and walked home.

The youngest one had got his pinky jammed in a door and it was red and swollen. I checked it for fractures, and it was obviously very painful.

As we sat down to dinner, we felt disheartened. “I think we should all just go to bed right now” the Husband said, “before anything else bad happens to us”.


By Lovain

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