Welcome to New Zealand. Would You Like a Root Canal?

Just an update on my toothache. On July 1st I started having a major throbbing toothache. I have never had one before. It was horrible! There were a few times the pain brought me to tears. At the time we were traveling in Tijuana, Mexico visiting my brother. Seeing a dentist in the midst of traveling from Tijuana, to LA then to Wellington seemed impossible. I can only deal with one big thing at a time and then my focus was on getting us to Wellington. So I just had to deal with the pain. Painkillers did absolutely nothing. It didn't matter how many I popped in my mouth. Orajel did nothing either. The only moments of relief I could get were when drinking small amounts of water and swishing it around my mouth. So, I carried water bottles wherever we went and I went to the bathroom a lot!

Once in Wellington we couldn't call a dentist until we had NZ phone numbers. And with all the things we had to do to get settled in, getting phone numbers wasn't our number one priority. But on Tuesdays we got our new numbers and made our first call to a dentist. It took calling a few dentists until we could find one that could see me that day. I was able to see a dentist and it took a little while for him to figure out which tooth had the problem. He told me I would need a root canal and then he told me how much it would cost. I then cried in front of him and took a tissue from the box of tissues on his desk. We set an appointment for the next day to start the process of a root canal. I walked out of his office in pain, scared about the procedure and nervous about the cost of it. This was not the way I expected to be introduced to New Zealand.

Yesterday I went in for the root canal and I have to say, it was worth every penny. The procedure was painless and thankfully took all my toothache away. I still have a few more appointments in the coming weeks to finish the process, but I am feeling so much better, even if our bank account will be feeling the pain now. Having a painfree and happy mom and wife is well worth it.

Kiwi Language Lesson: When someone says to you, "I hope that tooth is all fix and not causing your jip." It means, "I hope that tooth is all fixed and not causing you pain." Jip means pain.