root canal

We've come a long way from this:

I cracked up when rewatching that scene just now. Bill Murray as the masochistic patient and Steve Martin as the sadistic dentist frustrated by Murray's enjoyment of pain play off each other so well. But the musical that this is based on harks back to a time when the term root canal evoked fear because of the pain involved. These days, the procedure itself involves pretty much zero pain, but the dentist warned me, at my 11:00 a.m. appointment today, that there might be pain afterward when the anesthetic wears off.

She also said that, should the pain get so bad that even painkillers like ibuprofen don't help, I can call the hospital and schedule an emergency appointment for this Friday. It's been over an hour since the procedure, though, and I've felt nothing. I just took two ibuprofen, anyway, as a precaution. She said to eat by keeping the food away from that side of my mouth (the right side), but that I could brush my teeth normally.

As things stand, I'm to come back for the rest of the procedure on Monday next week at 10 a.m. After the dentist finishes with me, I have to go back to the small clinic in the building where I work (Myung Duck [sic] Clinic) and get a crown installed, but she said that that procedure isn't an emergency, and I can do it after I'm back from my walking trip. (I told her I was going on a walk even though, in reality, I haven't yet decided whether to go. Just wanted to prod her along and not let her dawdle.) Below is a photo I'd wanted to take last time:

strangely compelling sculpture on the hospital grounds

I can't figure out the title. "Birth Guardian (Deity)"? What does that even mean?

The professor was less interruptive and more friendly this time. The front-desk girl was someone different and friendlier, too, and I didn't even need my passport now that I'm in the system (which is what I suspected would happen, anyway, after the all the grumbling and griping from the previous girl). I went by cab and got to the hospital early, processed in early, and saw the professor a few minutes early. She remarked that the cavity went deep, so the root canal was a necessity. Once I got numbed up, they put the patient-calming cloth over my face—the one with the mouth-hole—and the work began. Lots of digging and scraping and drilling, with two different kinds of drill, a gross one and a fine/subtle one. There was a lot of osteo-vibration and some pressure, but no real pain. It was a local anesthetic, but because it was administered in my head rather close to my brain, I felt a tiny bit woozy and unbalanced when I climbed out of the reclining chair. Still, I was able to go back out of the hospital, snap photos of that sculpture, and grab a cab to work, where I am now.

Monday, then, ought to be the end of the procedure. The "nerve therapy" and the root canal both happen at the same time, and the professor said it would normally involve two, three, even four sessions. In my case, two sessions unless there's a reason for a third. I get the impression that, in the US, a root canal is a one-session thing, but whatever. Today, I paid the first W180,000 of what will be around a W400,000 procedure. So we're halfway there. Finish the root canal on Monday, then visit my local clinic to schedule the crown-installment. If I can do that before the 15th, when I'll hypothetically leave for Busan, all the better. If it has to be done after November 4th, then whatever. It is what it is.