The Local Dentist

Just another reason why I love Sicily

We arrived in Sicily hoping this time, maybe, finally, we might stay at our own home. But first, we would need a mattress and second, hot water. And these things were providing that the toilet had been replaced in the guest bathroom.

Alas, no to the last.  But, we did buy a mattress on Saturday and, much to our amazement because nothing ever happens quickly in Sicily, it arrived on Tuesday – a full 5 days earlier than expected.

Sunday morning we went for breakfast at Bar Pinguino in the marina, our neighbor’s favorite hangout. Here we met our architect (at least, the architect of the original restoration twenty-some years ago who has, by default, become our  architect). After everyone had finished breakfast (which is no more than coffee and some sweet thing), we set off for our old train stop house to have a look around.

I will tell you more about this later. Suffice for now, here is the list I wrote on Sunday, the list of things that need to be done on this visit:

1.        Call Amazon regarding the bed sheets that have not been delivered. On my first trip after the purchase of our house, I brought new 100% organic cotton sheets with me from home but alas, I forgot that bed sizes are not the same here and queen is a bit too small. So this time, I ordered online. But packages are not simply left on your doorstep as they are in the States and neither Enzo’s house nor our own has a doorbell, which makes delivery a bit tricky.

2.        Buy a new electric water heater. Our current “boiler” is propane gas-powered, and it will cost ~200 euro to have it “started up” after so many years of not working, and potentially again the next time we return. With this in mind, it seems much smarter—and more economical—to simply buy a new one and to buy electric.

3.        Complete the drainage pipe in the yard that goes out to the road. This pipe needs to be extended in the yard to the end of the property and then covered with a grill. The architect insists this must be done as soon as possible.

4.        With that, we also need to clean up the garden. It is wildly overgrown and blackberry volunteers are springing up everywhere, biting ankles when you least expect it. Enzo thinks we should hire a professional but due to cost, we are determined to try our hand at it first. (First purchase after the mattress was a weed-eater!)

5.        Fix the windows in the guest room. These are the only windows that do not have a ledge and, the architect and I believe, this is why the water does not drain when it rains. Instead, it pools in the windowsill and eventually seeps into the wall. I think we need a proper fix with ledges such as are in the other windows but our neighbor, Enzo, is set on simply trying silicone. Hah! We’ll see…

6.        Paint the guest room. I hope, regardless of the window issue, that we will paint. If the area around the windows needs to be redone, okay, but it would be good to at least paint as much as we can.

7.        Purchase everything needed for the master bath which, we hope, work will begin before we return in October. But this is Sicily and even one small thing like replacing a toilet was not done in the last five months since I have been here, so…

There. That’s the list of the top things that need to get done.

Within hours of writing this, however, I realized there was something even more important. So important in fact, that it was an emergency.

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Years ago, I remember my sister not wanting to move—to leave the Chicago area—because it would be too much trouble finding new care providers. Not only a doctor, massage therapist, acupuncturist, etc., but a mechanic, hair stylist, and more. Ah yes, a dentist. A really great dentist is also hard to find.

Especially if you’re in Sicily. Or so I thought.

Toothaches and sore throats are the worst. Right? Granted, I have never given birth. When I was a kid, I heard a woman describe childbirth this way: take your top lip between your thumb and forefinger and press as hard as you can. Not bad, right? Then pull your lip over the top of your head.

Ouch.

Ah, but a serious toothache!  Mamma mia!

I have NEVER known pain like this. Well, once, when I had surgery for my deviated septum and talked way too much while still high from whatever they had given me and the Novocain was still working. When the Novocain wore off, the pain was crazy. It was hours before I could take a new prescription with Codeine that finally helped.

But this was not hours. This was days. And nights. A constant throbbing. 1200 mg of Ibuprofen would barely make a dent, and when it did, only for two hours at a time. Ice didn’t help. Need I even say that topical solution and rinsing didn’t help? Only when I didn’t talk, or drink, and most certainly did not eat, AND, when I was wearing a silicone guard on the right side of my mouth to keep the teeth on the left from touching, did the pain diminish to about a 6. Occasionally even a 5.  For a few minutes, less than an hour. Instead, unfortunately, mostly the pain hovered around 10 and often it soared up to 13 or 14. Hyperbole? No. With Tom as my witness, no.

Alas. On the second full day of this pain (and very little sleep), my neighbor took me to his dentist. The culprit, we believe, is the tooth where I had a root canal 36 years ago, my first ever root canal. This (36 years ago) was also when I discovered that my roots are longer than normal and they hook. Now, if you’re curious at all about how the body manifests emotions, Louise Hay would say this has everything to do with “holding on.” Mmmmm…. Yes. Letting go has often been a challenge for me. Or was. Aging has helped. In this case, however, it also meant that the dentist did not remove all the roots, which infected after the permanent crown had been placed.

Remember the great San Francisco earthquake of 1989? I was living there then, and, two days after the quake, I had surgery to clean out the remaining roots and the infection, which resulted in 14 stitches to the roof of my mouth. Trauma? Oh yeah.

It is THIS tooth that is now a problem. THIS crown that my current dentist suggested in the fall that I replace sometime in the next year. Which is reasonable, right? I mean, 36 years is a damn good run.  I should have done that. Yeah, like LAST year. But here we are.

After taking an X-ray, the Sicilian dentist determined—as best as he could tell—that the tooth is infected. How this can be, he is not sure. (Nor is my American dentist, as I have since been in touch via email). The Sicilian dentist prescribed 6 days on amoxicillin. Yes, yes, he said, that should do the trick. I, however, am not as confident, especially after my recent problems with my right ear, two rounds of steroids and one of antibiotics but hey, fingers crossed.  (are you tired of hearing about my ailments? I apologize. I’m tired of it as well.)

Meanwhile, I spent two days eating only frozen lemon sorbetto, which is AMAZING here in Sicily.  Barely drinking water but starting the day with latte con café.

Day 3, after a night in such pain that Tom threatened to take me to the ER, I finally convinced the dentist to prescribe a stronger pain killer. It worked. I finally slept through the night. As the moment, it’s looks like the antibiotic is working.

As for “the local dentist,” I need to say this: I love Sicilians. Well, heck, I love Sicily. And experiences like this just confirm my bias.  This dentist, 1) spoke English. So did the first pharmacist I visited. Both appreciated my attempts at speaking Italian, and both said, “it is better if you speak English”  hah! 2) He was incredibly kind. And 3) He did not charge me, not even for the X-Ray!!!

When was the last time YOUR dentist did not charge you for a visit or an x-ray?

I need to move here soon. And maybe you should consider joining me.

There are many geckos here in the Mediterranean but our house population is not as bad as it was (see Geckos in my House!). Still, alas, this is what greeted us when we first arrived.