Our visit to the dentist yesterday was one of the more "western" experiences we've had here in Taiwan. The waiting room was like any you'd find in the US, which surprised me. We'd heard plenty of people talk about doctors' offices where the patients are treated in the same room as the people that are waiting their turn. Truth in advertising, right? You get to see what you're about to get. Even at my visits with the doctor at the hospital last spring the person next in line waited in the examining room.

The waiting room at our dentist, of course, only had (outdated?) Chinese magazines to read or the Chinese all-news station on the TV to watch, and there was a bit of waiting. Lee and I had back-to-back half-hour appointments but there's just one dentist and he does all the work himself - no dental hygienist doing the cleaning. When was the last time you had a dentist clean your teach? Dr. Juang, or Jason, as he asked us to call him, grew up in Seattle so his English was impeccable and he was the gentlest dentist I've ever had. He was very good at explaining what he saw with my teeth and what he recommended I have done and why, which includes removing two of my wisdom teeth.

Lee is skeptical about having dental work done here (well, anywhere, actually. He has a love-hate relationship with dentists that doesn't include the love part) but I've known for a long time those teeth needed to go and I really liked Jason. The first tooth will come out next week and the second one I'll wait on for awhile. It's a lot more complicated so I'm waiting to see how the first goes before I decide about the second. I'll keep you all asprised.