Buy the travel insurance… Just in case.
I woke up on New Years Day in excruciating pain. I was in Bangkok, utterly hungover and exhausted after I long night of ringing in the New Year with my friends…. And the pain I was feeling was not from the hangover… ( I would later find out that my wisdom tooth was severely infected and would need to be removed).
For the next two days, I drank a lot of whiskey to ease the pain… I wouldn’t suggest this because then the next morning, you end up hungover and in pain, which is the worst combination. On my final morning in Bangkok, I actually woke up in tears because of the pain. I knew I had to do something about it…
Let’s back up for a second… I have been dealing with this pain in my mouth on and off since LAST FEBRUARY. While I was in Italy, my tooth started to grow in and my dentist said to leave it alone if it wasn’t bothering me all of the time. Before I left for Thailand, I asked two different dentists if I should remove my wisdom teeth (yes, I’m nearly 25 and had all of my wisdom teeth up to two weeks ago) before heading over to the other side of the world for a year… They both said no, I had room for them and would be fine.
Upon returning back to my apartment in Phrae, where I teach english, I contacted my coordinator at my school and she said she would take me to the dentist the following morning. From there, we went to two different dentists, and the entire time I had no idea what was going on, as their english abilities were minimal. (Thank goodness I had my coordinator with me!).
The second dentist handed me antibiotics and told me to come back in three days. I cried and cried that that was the best she could do for me at the moment. I had a terrible infection that had to be treated before I could have my tooth removed.
I went back to that dentist two days later to get an x-ray and immediately the doctor told me there was nothing he could do for me. More tears followed. I was then told I would have to see a third dentist that evening.
We arrived and after sitting in her chair for five minutes she said “okay, lets pull this out!” I was shocked that it was going to happen right then and there. With no anesthesia. While I was awake…. She began numbing my gums with some novocaine and I proceeded to freak out. Like really freak out. Like screaming and crying in an open doctor’s office while several people were sitting in the waiting room, probably thinking, “wow, this farang can’t handle anything.”
It was a traumatic experience for me, but she pulled out my tooth, and afterwards I screamed “YOU PULLED OUT THE WRONG TOOTH,” (I sincerely thought that she took out the wrong tooth, for the entire procedure) because it was so big! She gave me stitches and sent me on my way. With no pain killers. Just tylenol… I argued with the nurse for about fifteen minutes before realizing defeat– they were not going to give me anything stronger.
I spent the next several days in bed, recovering. And I’m now perfectly fine. I missed school for a week, but my coordinator was with me during my emergency surgery, taking selfies…
My travel insurance covers up to $500 worth of dental procedures/emergencies. (Lucky for me it only cost 2500 baht which is about $70 USD). Filling a claim is simple enough and the representative I’ve been speaking with has been very helpful.
The moral of the story is to be prepared, because you never know…
