Those of you who are keeping track of my calendar know it’s time for my 6 month cleaning.

I visited a dentist here back in the winter, but to my surprise I received a bill for 80 Euro after. Turns out he wasn’t covered by my insurance.

So I learned my lesson I guess.

I contacted the insurance company and got a list of dentists in their network. One of which I made an appointment with and went to see last week.

When I got there, no one spoke English (including the dentist herself), but they did let me know they didn’t take my insurance and I’d have to pay 80 Euro for the cleaning.

They even made me sit in the chair while they poked around in my mouth and spoke across me to each other in German, all while I protested and tried to figure out what was going on. I felt like I was in a horror movie.

I was pretty upset that I had biked all the way across town, wasted a day off, and still had to find a new dentist. But I thought of it as a blessing in disguise–I wouldn’t have wanted to go to that dentist anyway.

So, starting from scratch, I went on the insurance website and called a bunch of random dentists. I got in touch with one in my neighborhood.

Her receptionist spoke very good English, which I’ve found is rare.

I went to see her tonight and had such a pleasant experience. The hygenist spoke English really well, however we still did a lot of back and forth guesswork for words like enamel, decay, fluoride, cavity.

She told me how she watched Sister Wives and the Duggars because those shows air here in English and it helps her practice. I’m sure they have contributed to a very well-rounded vocabulary.

She told me each step before she did it “now I’m going to polish” and she kept referring to it as a “professional cleaning.”

“How are professional cleanings in the US?”
“This is the second step of the professional cleaning”
“This is the end of the professional cleaning”

I got a kick out of the process (although I would have rather been dancing).