November 7, Day 29: Puerto Octay to Rio Bueno
I rode the bike for a bit today, but let’s talk about the dental drama instead!
After a less-than-conclusive email exchange with the dentist in Amsterdam, I thought it'd be wise to get a dental X-ray. Not being able to use one side of my mouth is a sign that something is wrong, and I want to send it over to them to get it diagnosed. So before leaving Puerto Octay I found a couple of good dentists in Rio Bueno, put together a brief writeup in Spanish asking for an appointment for tomorrow, and sent it to their contact email or WhatsApp numbers.
Checked the phone a few times during the ride, no response. So once I'd arrived and got civilized I thought I should head into town and visit the places in person. First on the list is Clínica Alcudia, which is not just top-rated but also closest. They’re open, looks like a good place, so I head in. Google Translate did a lot of heavy lifting, but we got things figured out: they arranged an appointment for me, in half an hour at 1700. But I needed to go to the other branch which is a 20 minute walk. (Tactfully mentioning that I contacted them earlier and got no response is too delicate a subject for Google Translate.)
It's nice and sunny and all those good things and a good opportunity to have a look at Rio Bueno. They have parks, not one park, but several! Nice grassy parks with actual play equipment and schoolkids lying on the grass hanging out. And to be clear: grass that's fit to lie down on doesn't happen by accident.
From left to right: change of scenery on the gravel. Nice bridge. New road! With selfie. Gravel is treacherous so I don’t usually take selfies, but here’s one.
Anyway, I arrive at the clinic, which is very modern and clean and white and seriously looks like something out of a US TV show. I'm too tall for the dental X-ray machine so we have to get a seat in. It's fine-tuned by putting laser crosshairs on my nose. The nurse shows me "not moving" on Google Translate and leaves me to it, while the machine slowly spins around my head. Nothing went in my mouth so it must be doing some sort of CAT scanning, which is impressive! (The idea of trying to solve 3D density from a bunch of 2D images that may be misaligned because the patient shifted slightly is scary to begin with. The fact that the results need to be reliable enough for medical use, and so good they can stand up in court if there's some medical misadventure, is a complete horror themepark.)
We peer at the images, can't see any cracks in the problem tooth. Oh well! Maybe the Amsterdam dentists will see things I can't? I get them emailed to me, it's time to find some lunch. I head up to the counter and try to pay... but it's made clear that the party isn't over, please sit down. I guess there was a miscommunication because I only requested an X-ray? Z-grade organ harvesting horror movies start like this ... well no, this is clearly an expensive clinic and you don't take organs out from upper-class patients! You might think you're the Robin Hood of transplants but your scheme would get shut down before you got to patient #2.
I get called into the dentist's room, he has a poke around in my mouth and I'm happy to say there were no misunderstandings with my improvised hand signals for pain. Bit more Google Translate (I owe that team drinks, seriously) to say my molar is cracked in two.
Two options: save or remove? Saving takes three-four weeks. Removing takes one session and I'd be back on the road in a day or two.
I'd like to save the tooth, of course. But staying in Rio Buenos for four weeks is not an option, I'd do the procedure in Amsterdam with my regular dentist. Which means getting back to Amsterdam quickly. I could cycle directly to Santiago, skip all the sights, and fly back. That would probably take a week to ten days. But doing long distances each day while not being able to eat properly, and having a developing dental problem sounds like a really bad combination.
Another option is cut short the holiday, get an overnight bus to Santiago and fly back in a day or two. It's possible, but it'd mean missing all the things I've got lined up in Chile.
Suddenly the removal option is looking much more reasonable! I decide to book the procedure for tomorrow (Friday). Overnight I can talk to the family, check in with the travel insurance, maybe talk to my Amsterdam dentist too, and in the unlikely event someone has a good objection I can cancel.
So I head over there to make the appointment in person and find that tomorrow is not an option, the surgeon is off. But tonight is, in an hour! Huh. So I call the family, get the OK from them. Reinstall Skype and use it to call the travel insurance number in the Netherlands (because South American eSims don't do voice calls, only data). Arrange a medical report for the insurance. Get some post-operation guidance in case I'm too unsteady to remember afterwards.
Then it's operation time. The procedure seems to involve power tools, and I am so extraordinarily glad we live in a time with really great anesthetics: from the sound and vibration I have some pretty vivid ideas about what the pain might be like without them. I can't see anything, or follow what the surgeon is saying to the attendant. Is it going OK? Has the tooth broken and they're having to get out the dental jackhammer and excavate the remains? Did they get the right one?
From left to right: bridge for the walk into town. Nice lights along the way. Clock in the dental clinic, I think their choices of symbols needs a rethink!
It was a bit of a nerve-jangling experience so I didn't have the presence of mind to get pictures of any of it afterwards, just staying upright and trying to follow the Spanish was enough of a challenge. I was recommended to get some painkillers, so I did, and then walked home and called it a night.
So the dental drama escalated today, but I’m happy with how it went. Or that might just be me floating high on the ebbing tide of anesthetics, and the first round of afterparty pills. Let’s see how buoyant I feel tomorrow ...
