歯の治療と財布の痛み
9月
17日
今日は家族の皆がお世話になっているかかりつけの歯科医院へ。
コロナ禍のため日本帰国時に治療と言う裏技が使えずに、高額医療を覚悟し、腹をくくりながらの登院。
ここはルーマニア移民のご夫妻が経営している歯科医院で、そこに初めて伺ったのが20年近くも前のこと。その時は小さな診療所でご夫妻だけが働いておられた。連続した4本の歯を一挙にインプラント処理してもらった際には最も初期の患者であることからプロモーション期間ゆえに半額でしていただいた。
丁寧な接客と確かな技術で今やこの診療所はベルビュー市でいくつもの賞を得るほどに信頼を得て大きく成長した。
何回か引っ越しを重ねて今や大きな建物の中に複数のドクターを配置して予約は2カ月先までいっぱいとのこと。
その待合室はもはや高級ホテルのロビーみたい。
本日していただいた処置は歯根を抜く手術。
先ず、3本ほどの試験管に私の血液を採取してそれを遠心分離器で個体部分と血漿に分ける。それを歯根の抜けた穴に移植することによって細胞増殖を促し、術後の速やかな回復につなげるのだそうです。
この6年ほどの間に採用された最新技術だそうです。
明細書を見るとこの措置費用だけで900ドル(10万円弱)。
ひえー
歯の痛みよりむしろ財布の痛みの方が大きかった。
これまで原始的な方法で何回も歯根を抜かれて来た。
それでも生き延びてきたのだからそうしてもらっても良かったんすよ〜。
あー痛っ。
それでも彼らの熱意ある姿勢と家族同士のお付き合いから生まれる親切心に感謝しています。娘は今日、ドクターの奥様であるアナさんに素敵な写真アルバムを贈りました。
アナさんはいつも患者それぞれに1輪の花をプレゼントしてくださるのですが、今回は娘に花束を贈ってくれました。
Today, I went to my dentist's office, where everyone in my family is taken care of.
Because of the corona pandemic, I couldn't use the backdoor method of getting treatment when I returned to Japan, so I went to the dentist's office prepared, decided to pay a lot of money.
The clinic was run by a Romanian immigrant couple, and I had first visited there almost 20 years ago. At that time, it was a small clinic with only the couple working. When I had four consecutive teeth implanted at once, I was offered half the price due to the promotion period since I was the earliest patient.
This clinic has grown so much that it has won several awards in Bellevue for its attentive service and skill.
The clinic has moved several times and now has several doctors in a large building, and appointments are booked up to two months in advance.
The waiting room is like the lobby of a luxury hotel.
The procedure today was to extract the roots of my teeth.
First, they took my blood in about three test tubes and used a centrifuge to separate the blood into individual parts and plasma. By transplanting the plasma into the hole where the tooth root was removed, they can promote cell proliferation, leading to a quick recovery after the surgery.
This is the latest technology that has been adopted in the last six years or so.
Looking at the bill, the cost of this procedure alone was $900 (a little less than 100,000 yen).
Wow!
The pain in my wallet was greater than the pain in my teeth.
I've had the roots of my teeth pulled out many times in primitive ways.
But I've survived that, so it was okay to have it done that way.
Ouch.
Still, I am grateful for their enthusiastic attitude and the kindness that comes from the family's association with each other. My daughter gave Anna, the doctor's wife, a beautiful photo album today.
Anna always gives a flower to each patient, and this time she gave a bouquet to my daughter.