Tooth Extraction in Leon, Nicaragua

A bunch of things happened between Popoyo and Leon but I have been wanting to write this specific post for a long time, so I'm skipping ahead because the beauty sometimes with being an adult is I can do what I want. While I was home in the states I had a single wisdom tooth coming in that was recommended I get it taken out. The tooth would probably start pushing my teeth and at this point I have never had braces and would like that to stay true. I thought about getting my tooth taken out while I was in Panama or Costa Rica but it never seemed to work out and later I found out it would of been a lot more expensive there.

I read a few blogs about people getting their teeth cleaned and expats who go to fancier dentists in Leao or Managua but I was going for the cheap local vibe and that is exactly what we found. Next to a little store (I think it sold meat) there was a single room dentist. There are bunch of them in Leon with the same kind of look and sign. The nice thing about these types of dentists is they are first come first serve so you don't have to worry about appointment. I was able to talk to the dentist almost instantly. I showed him the paper my dentist gave me to give to the surgical dentist back at home. It was a picture of all the teeth in the mouth with a huge X over the tooth that needed to be taken out. I thought this would be obvious enough that I wouldn't have to worry too much about lost in translations. He told me he could do it and it would cost roughly $50 which was cheaper than my copay back at home.

He sat me down in a chair that had rips in it and while checking my tooth out I was a bit surprised to see his hands were shaky. Everything was a bit disorganized and the organizer in me was going crazy, I wanted to ask him if we could trade this extraction for me to clean his place up because it really needed some help. I had read about the machines they use which sanitizes their instruments and was please to see he pulled his tools out of one of these machines.

The needle was bigger than I remember them being. My dentist at home maybe a bit expensive but I feel like I'm paying for it. They numb you on the outside first with gel and while they stick you with the needle they lightly rub your shoulder which for me actually does wonders. Oh and you can't forget the TV glasses so I can pretend to be in a different world while they do this. This guy though just jammed his hands in my mouth while trying to look inside my dark crevice of a mouth with the dim light.

The one room dentist offce

Surprisingly when he stuck me with the needle to numb me up it didn't hurt that bad. When he started shaking and tugging with all his might less than 5 minutes later I was surprised again that I didn't feel really any pain. When he showed the tooth to Nicolas I was even more surprised that it was done and over with so quickly. If I would of done it at home they would have put me under and it would of been a long process. While paying him the money and getting a prescription for antibiotics and mild pain meds my ideas of what you NEED in a dentist dramatically changed.

And out comes my tooth

All these things I thought I needed to be able to go to the dentist were things I lived without just fine. Part of traveling is learning the differences between needs and wants. For me they continuously change with each trip. My needs and wants were different before I visited Uzbekistan with my mom and they were different when I went to Peru and again they changed after this dentist trip. Sometimes I hear other travels say "wow they have absolutely nothing but they are so happy". It is very true that many of the places I end up traveling are very poor, but its one thing to be able to recognize this versus actually feeling this.

I keep thinking that we have these experiences of loosing things and getting things taken from us because we need to learn more what its like to have nothing. Each trip we get rid of almost everything and live out of our backpacks but at the same time we could hold more value in our backpacks than some people will hold in their whole lives. Its such a strange concept to feel, literally feeling my backpack and thinking about this. Sometimes I wonder if I deserve this wealth that I have, what makes me so special. Nicolas told me yesterday that he will make more than one day than one of his friends will make in a month. I have these struggles in my head but then I wonder how people that have millions don't have these same feelings. I'm a college graduate making minimum wage having worries that I have too much and I'm too wealthy while the people we would actually consider wealthy don't seem to be feeling this.

For me I am the lucky one, not the millionaire. I think sometimes money can warp the mind but I was lucky enough to grow up with always enough but not too much where I can't see anything else. I'm lucky that my mind is open to these changes.

Just for today show Gratitude.