What can you buy for $50 in China?

Hi everyone. What can you buy for $50 dollars in Jinan. Well, a lot; dinner for four at Pizza Hut with drinks, dinner at our local little restaurant for 25-30 people, or all you can eat BBQ and Beer for 6-8 people. What did I buy you might be asking. I bought a 2 1/2 hour intercultural dental experience. What's that? Let me back up a little.

We go out for BBQ every Friday night. It has become a tradition for us and in all of that time I have never found a bone in the meat, until last Friday. I was understandably surprised when I bit down and found a bone in my mouth. I spit it out into a napkin and was about to complain when I noticed that it was metal. A filling and a "Chunk" of my tooth. I felt around inside my mouth and there it was a huge hole in my molar. I was very upset because I don't like dentists at the best of times and I wasn't pleased about going to one that I couldn't understand. June was sympathetic but Rob only wanted to know if I wanted more beer. I didn't as I was in no mood for beer and the rest of the night I was a little down.

By Monday I still OK but I didn't want it to get infected so I made plans to go to the dentist on Wednesday. Sam accompanied me to the hospital, because all things medical take place in the hospital, for my 2 1/2 hours of intercultural dental experience. You pay to register and then with your medical booklet you go upstairs to see the dentist. We got upstairs to find a waiting room half full of people but I didn't have to wait. It's good to be a foreigner sometimes but I wasn't in such a big hurry this time.
The dentist looked at me and I was off to get an x-ray, 20 yuan ($3.50) . Again lines didn't slow me down. It was clean, quick and you get to keep your x-rays. Good thing I'm not planning on children because they don't bother with those pesky lead aprons here. Then I was back to the dentist. Now they don't have private rooms here you are in a large area with what could be described as cubicles. As they were drilling my tooth out there was a steady stream of patients asking the dentist questions, "he's busy right now!" I thought. They don't use the rubber dam in you mouth so all of the little pieces of teeth fill your mouth and instead of suction you spit.

My dentist had to consult with his superiors because he couldn't find the root. I didn't care because they gave me so much freezing that the whole side of my face was frozen even my nose. They even had to bring out a special ultra sonic drill. Then the root canal began in earnest. Off for another x-ray (another 20 yuan) , my little guys were really taking a beating, and I was almost done. One temporary filling later and it was time to pay. The total was just under $54. I have to return next week for the permanent filling but that should be much cheaper. I hope Sam can come with me then because he made everything easier. He translated, organized the driver and booked my appointments. Thanks Sam!

My conclusion after trying the Chinese dental system, well it is clean, efficient, safe, and inexpensive. I would recommend it to anyone who needs work done. It was as much fun as a root canal could be. Of course next time I think I spend the money on the all you eat BBQ and Beer.
Don

P.S. Like all good teachers I used that experience with my class today reviewing words like freezing, cavity, x-ray, filling, and toothache.