My Second Trip to a Dentist

Hello Everyone,

 

I've obviously not blogged in a couple weeks now so lots of things have been building up in my head.  Part of me hasn't felt like blogging much after our experience in Port Elizabeth since no matter what happens in South Africa, everything will always be overshadowed by the attack.  That's what really sucks about having a bad experience while traveling.  Of course one should not let a bad experience ruin your vacation; and you definitely shouldn't base your entire opinion of a place on the bad experience.  But while those things are easy to say, reality is simply quite different.

 

We've also had limited access to the internet since we left Cape Town.  Some of the hostels we've stayed in have had computers with internet access and there have been internet cafes here and there, but WI-FI has been almost non-existent and any access we have found has been pretty expensive compared to other places we've been.  Nevertheless, we have access for the moment here in Durban, but since it's the first major city we've been in since Cape Town, we've had to take care of some more important business items first, so the blog and Face Book have been in the back rather than forefront of my mind. 

 

I am very happy to say that I accomplished two important things on my agenda since arriving in Durban.  First, I finished my taxes, both federal and state!  Taxes have been more of an issue and stress for Sean because of the looming April 15th deadline.  But as most people are not aware, the deadline only applies to those who owe taxes and have to pay.  If, on the other hand, you are due to receive a refund, you have three years to file and collect that refund.  Obviously, Uncle Sam is happy to hold onto your money for as long you like.  The key is knowing whether or not you owe, which usually means you have to do your taxes and if you are going to do them, you may as well file them.  I have always received a refund with the exception of last year when I made a little money from the sale of some company stock which increased my tax liability due to capital gains.  This year, I knew I would receive a refund because, although I still sold some company stock, everything I sold was at a huge loss so I didn't add anything to my income and was able to actually reduce my income because of my "capital losses".  Combine this with the fact that taxes were being withheld based on my annual income, but I didn't end up working the entire year since I was laid off.  The resulting income tax return isn't enough to make up for the money I lost through ACADIA, but it will be enough to add to the travel fund, which in my case, is slowly disappearing after six months of traveling.  Sean convinced me to use Turbo Tax this year, which I usually refuse to do on principle; I don't believe I should have to pay to do something the government requires me to do.  I find it ludicrous that I have to pay to e-file, which makes it much easier for the government, so I normally do my taxes by hand, with pen on printed forms, and mail them in the old-fashioned way.  It means waiting a couple weeks longer for my refund, but I like the fact that someone at the IRS office has to manually enter all the info from my handwritten forms into a computer.  It's my way of creating more work for the government since they created more work for me.  Doing my taxes by hand is a little more complicated, however, while being out of the country.  I would have to mail the forms back to the states and upon receiving a check have the check mailed to me to endorse and then mail it back to the States to be deposited.  The cost of all the mailing would easily exceed the cost of Turbo Tax and make the time until I receive my money much longer, so that's why I gave in.  Now, I'll receive a nice refund from the federal government in a couple weeks.  Who knows when California will send me my refund since they declared at the beginning of the year that they're broke and won't be sending out refund checks anytime soon.  I swear, I should be entitled to interest and fees, but I learned of the government's double standards a long time ago.

 

The second thing I accomplished here in Durban was seeing a dentist: my second urgent visit to a dentist since we've been on this trip.  I got a recommendation from Mick, an English guy staying at our hostel who's been living here in South Africa for eleven years.  The dentist he recommended was pretty far away, but it was a private clinic and they were able to get me in right away.  The other option was the "free" clinic just down the street, which I actually tried calling first but they never even answered the phone.  When I was talking to Mick about it in the bar, he said the free clinic was one of those places you end up waiting for seven hours to be treated even if you're bleeding, have open wounds or broken bones, so I'm glad I didn't bother going there.  The clinic I went to, MediCross, had an outpatient medical facility and a separate dental office all in the same building.  The interesting thing about it was, unlike almost every place I've been here in South Africa, everyone who worked in the dentist office was white (and speaking Afrikaans), with the exception of the dentist, who was Indian.  The other patients in the waiting room were all white with the exception of an Indian couple.  As a side note, Durban has one of the largest Indian populations outside of India and we were told they are actually the most affluent racial group here in Durban.  Anyway, the wait was short, the dentist was great and the news I received during the consultation was as good as it could be, all things considered. 

 

Sean mentioned the details of the attack so I won't rehash that other than to describe my injuries again.  I have a busted ear drum, which seems to be healing as expected.  There isn't much you can do for a busted ear drum other than wait and hope it heals.  If you've never had a busted ear drum, it feels similar to having an ear infection, but with more hearing loss and more throbbing.  My hearing is slowly coming back, but it's still difficult to hear when there's lots of background noise, such as in a bar.  The rest of my injuries resulted from being hit in the mouth with a rock.  The rock was not thrown; the guy had it in his hand and hit me with it.  My lip, which was split open and swollen pretty badly, is healing quite nicely. There is still a small scar where the split was, but it's barely noticeable and even that should diminish over time.  The worst of the damage was to my teeth.  The two middle incisors at the top are chipped, one very minor on the corner and back, which can be easily fixed with a veneer.  The other is broken pretty severely, almost half of the tooth is gone in a diagonal direction and the remaining part of the tooth is a little loose.  The dentist said it could actually be fixed with a filling, but that would only last temporarily and I'll eventually have to get a crown.  The two right incisors on the bottom of my mouth were also jarred hard enough that they are loose and even though they are not chipped, one of these is what is causing the most pain.  The x-rays didn't show any fractures or cracks, even below the gum line, but the trauma has caused the ligaments holding my teeth to my jaw to become inflamed and sore.  The best solution is to stabilize the teeth and wait for them to heal.  He considered putting splints on the three loose teeth, which would involve putting a bond on the neighboring teeth and anchoring a wire around the injured teeth to stabilize them and keep them from moving.  The cost for this actually would not have been much, but since the pain has been lessening on it's own, he recommended waiting another week or two to see how I heal and since we'll be in Joburg around then, if I need to have the splints put on, I could easily find a dentist there to do it.  Part of the reason for this was that if he put the splints on, another dentist would have to take them off because I would have to wear them for six weeks and I have no idea where we'll be in six weeks.  Nevertheless, I am not in danger of loosing any of my teeth and the two top teeth can be fixed, however, I have to wait until everything heals first before they can do that because the dentist said if he had to predict anything, I will probably need to have root canals on the teeth that suffered the most trauma.  The sensitivity I'm experiencing is obviously due to the nerve, which could be damaged and eventually die due to the impact it received.  If the nerve dies, it could lead to even more problems.  Obviously, if I need to have root canals, they'll have to do that before putting on a crown.  He told me what to look out for and how to monitor the teeth to make sure the nerves are still alive and healthy, so I just have to watch, wait and see. 

 

So even though the dentist couldn't do much in terms of repairs, I received the reassurance I was looking for and know what to look out for until the next visit to a dentist.  The best part of the experience was the bill.  As I mentioned the first time I had to see a dentist on this trip, we are really taken advantage of and ripped off back in the States when it comes to health and dental care.  My dental consultation and x-rays today were only $25, which is less than the cost of the taxi to and from the dental office ($30 USD).  He even gave me copies of the x-rays to show the next dentist!   Even if I would have had the splint's put on, that would have only cost and additional $75.  If I have to have any root canals or other work done before I get home, I'm sure the cost will be more significant so having the travel insurance will come in handy, but at this point, it's not even worth filing a claim since I have a $100 deductible.

 

So after my trip to the dentist, I guess I can confidently say I'm doing better.  I'm definitely feeling better physically, not 100%, but getting there.  Emotionally, I think I'll have to move on to another country to get to where I want to be.  I'll save those thoughts for another blog post, but like I said above, no matter how much fun I have from now on or what other activities I do or things I see here, my experience in South Africa will always be defined by the assault.  At the very least, I will still write a little about the positive things we've seen and done in South Africa because I would like to remember those things, but the unfortunately reality is that those experiences will never make up for what happened and I guess that's just life. 

 

More to come soon. 

 

Ozell