Day 14, Cape Town- I know….blogging a dentist appointment. What is she thinking? Don’t read on if you aren’t interested in medical differences between SA and the US. This was the BIG thing we did today, and from our perspective pretty interesting.
I must admit to being an absolute wimp when it comes to going to the dentist. It’s rarely a pleasant experience, throw in some nasty childhood oral surgery, 4 years of braces from hell and it’s a wonder that I go at all. So, hardly a wink of sleep last night. Pete wasn’t feeling much better about the whole thing, but we dutifully bused down to the V & A waterfront and Dr. Andrias de Nysschen.
Of course we ended up lost, wandering around trying to find The Dental Practice in the colossal maze that is the V & A Waterfront. We had to call for help with the local phone that Pete had fortuitously purchased. Coleen stayed on the phone with us until she was sure we were almost at their doorstep.
The Dental Hygienist, Nazeel (Naz), was very thorough and super nice with tips about where to go and what to do. She is a rock climber and avid hiker, so gave us the best route to climb Table Mountain. They have screens mounted in the ceilings above the treatment chairs showing African wildlife in action. The lions, hippos, snakes, crocodiles and hyenas were very distracting from the treatment. They were all eating each other or other animals, which strangely wasn’t distressing while sitting in the dentist chair. Dr. de Nysschen was a big departure from the US dentists I’ve seen. He actually sat down and wanted to know about my expectations and concerns. He took X-rays and had me sit with him while he went over them, showing me why certain teeth need attention. The best part is he put together a treatment plan that was emailed with a line item, cost estimate. Two crown replacements and a filling replacement for less than $1200 USD. Pete’s work is more involved and will take 3 appointments and his estimate is under $2000 USD. What a huge savings over the $1600-$2000/ crown in the US.
We celebrated our survival of the dentist with a late lunch, early dinner, we refer to as dunch. Then it was just wandering around shopping and taking in the sites.
African agate necklace, a gift from Pete. Love the colors and size of the stones. These agates are typical for South Africa.
Found a street that has been converted to a pedestrian mall. Juice/smoothly bars and cafes are very popular here. Even regular restaurants will offer smoothies on their menus. Pete and I have found them to be very refreshing in the heat. We enjoyed this little cafe, sitting outside with coffees and watching all the people go by.
Walking near our apartment we found this novel use of shipping containers. The lower containers are a pedestrian walkway for the adjacent construction. Not sure about the use of the upper containers, maybe construction storage?
Looking forward to tomorrow, only two weeks left in western SA. There’s still so much to see and do.
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