November 8, 2025
A Good Thing to do on a Rainy Day
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A Good Thing to do on a Rainy Day
I feel so fortunate that we had ridden only 18 miles from Chiang Mai when a tooth started to tell me something was wrong with it. Chiang Mai has been known throughout Asia for at least 50 years as having the best dental care. It was going to be a delay in our trip but we have lots of time and better to get this taken care of right at the beginning of the trip. Plus, I had been sad that we were leaving Chiang Mai so quickly so now we get to return.
I was pretty certain the tooth in question was in need of a root canal. I used to be a dental technician (made porcelain crowns) long ago and I had a brother-in-law who was a dentist and now my nephew and his wife are both dentists. I've had a lot of dental work done all my life and I even made one of my own crowns in 1978. Put it all together and my unprofessional opinion was that I needed a root canal.
While still in Lamphun I googled "What endodontist is the best in Chiang Mai?" The first name that came up was Dr. Attapon Saelo at Kitcha Dental Clinic which coincidentally I had seen very near to where we had stayed in Chiang Mai. Via Kitcha Dental Clinic's website chat I asked how fast I could get an appointment with Dr. Saelo. They said I could come in that very day! I explained that we were in Lamphun and would be back in a couple of days. No problem, an appointment was made for 10AM Saturday. The clinic is open everyday! I asked what the appointment would entail and they said x-rays would be first. I figured that would be all for that first appointment but they went on to tell me that the root canal would be performed immediately after the x-rays if the Dr. thought that's what was needed. Amazing!! I was immediately relieved that I would know something about my tooth in just a couple of days. There was even a price list on their website so I knew approximately how much it was going to cost.
We rode back to Chiang Mai on one of our favorite roads on Thursday and rested up Friday and we went to Kitcha Dental Clinic on Saturday morning. The reception area was very warm and welcoming with lots of plants and wood. It wasn't glitzy like a lot of the dental clinics in Chiang Mai decorate in order to attract more foreigners I guess. I liked the down home feeling of Kitcha. And I liked all the receptionists too. I felt well taken care of immediately. The intake was incredibly efficient with at least one of the women speaking perfect English.
Right on schedule x-rays were taken by I don't know how many women and after a few minutes I met Dr. Saelo. He was youngish with 15 years experience, a graduate of Chiang Mai University and the well respected dental school in Chiang Mai. He spoke perfect English. Just by what he was explaining I knew he was a super competent endodontist. I have had two other root canals in the past, one of which had to be redone for some reason.
I told Dr. Saelo that I was concerned as to exactly which tooth was producing the pain. I just wasn't certain. Even though it seemed like he was certain he did a bunch of tests for my benefit. Finally I was sufficiently convinced it was the same tooth he was already certain of but I very much appreciated how he took the time to put my mind at ease. It was a wasted ten minutes of his time but I think it was wise of him to know that the patient also needs to be sure.
He explained what the procedure entailed and went to work. It was interesting to watch and listen to him and his assistant. They were lacking some of the fancy and super expensive imaging devices which in my previous root canal procedures were on screen the whole time. Instead, Dr. Saelo seemed to know exactly what he was doing without those devices. Halfway through and with my mouth held wide open by some sort of rubber thing I was biting on, I had to walk down the hall to the x-ray room, waving to Andrea on the way. Those x-rays told the Dr. if he had in fact removed all of the nerve. Back in the operating room he showed me the new x-rays and told me how it all looked good and what the next procedure would be. He filled the line where the nerve used to be with antibiotics and capped it with a temporary filling. He assured me that there would be no pain anymore. He was so confident when he said it and he said it at least twice. He was super nice and I really liked him. I felt in good hands the entire way through.
Each time I was having x-rays taken I had to remove my glasses and the women put them somewhere. Those women rushed this way and that down the hall as fast as they could and I even saw them run a few times. There were a bunch of women all looking alike in their masks, all the same short stature and all working fast. Each time I was to leave the x-ray room the assistants were rushing me out because that's what their entire day consists of; rushing. But they were forgetting about my glasses and I had to ask for them each time because I couldn't see where they put them. Each time they laughed that they had forgotten to give them back. Thais will always laugh at themselves about silly little things like how forgetful they were, twice! So Thai. By the way those women were worked I don't blame them one bit. They must be exhausted at the end of their day's work.
The Dr. told me what to expect in the next two days but he sure didn't think there would be a problem. He said to give it a week to see if everything feels alright and then come back and he would put a more permanent filling where the hole had been drilled. The entire time with Dr. Saelo was about 40 minutes but 10 of those minutes had been my wanting to be sure which tooth was hurting.
I thanked Dr. Saelo for taking me so quickly and I also told him that I had googled, "What endodontist is the best in Chiang Mai?" and his name had come up. He seemed to not know that or was being very humble about it. He said, "I am flattered." I told him I felt lucky to have been able to have him do the work I needed. Again, he was very humble.
Downstairs at the reception desk which was also full of very busy women I was given a sheet of printed information describing what I might expect. I was given five pills of some sort of drug for pain and swelling if needed. I was given the bill which amazed me because it was even less than I had expected from their price list on their website. It was $327 which included all the x-rays, drugs and the follow up appointment when he will put in the permanent filling. I was paying with my Visa card and the woman asked me if I wanted to pay in dollars or Baht. I figured it was going to be dollars in the end either way but I was totally stumped by that question. She saw my confusion and just decided for me. She said, "I'll do Baht. It's cheaper for you." I'm still wondering how that works but she has obviously done this many times.
I was at the front desk for a few minutes as all of this paperwork was being done and I observed the three or four women all at a pretty small counter each doing what they were best at, all bustling back and forth reaching through one another's arms for a pen, sliding papers across the desk to another, trading computers for whatever they needed to do and all working in some sort of beautiful synchronicity and all happy like they were all good friends. There was a sliding door at their backs and one woman after another either entered or left about every minute. It was quite the scene of bustle. Again, and I know I say this a lot but, it was so Thai. The Thais have the best sense of humor and have ways to make life enjoyable even at work when they are seemingly being worked to death. I was just sitting there smiling as I paid in Baht with my credit card still wondering how that worked but either way it was an amount that would have been about six times more in the U.S. because my Medicare "Advantage" Plan most likely would have paid $0. I'm serious. The last crown I had made my insurance paid $0.
I was finally all set. The one woman with whom I had been dealing, I presume because she spoke the most English, thanked me and I thanked her. Then, I said I had one last question. I asked , "What's that?" as I pointed to big red digital numbers in a box on the wall next to the desk where all the women were working. The numbers were constantly changing from in the 40s to the high 50s and maybe hitting 60 once in a while. I had absolutely no idea what the numbers meant and with my curiosity running rampant I had to ask.
The woman told me, "It's for sound." What!? "Sound, like decibels." I looked confused and she said, "Our boss doesn't like it when we talk or laugh loudly so he installed that. He says we have to keep it under 80." I shook my head. But then she stood up and with a sly smile said, "When we want to tell a funny story or a joke, we turn it off." I burst out laughing so loud that the thing shot up to 75 and I clapped my hand over my mouth. We laughed together and I laughed all the way out the door. I laughed not only because it was so Thai but also because it was so Thai that she actually told me the whole story. She wanted to tell me that story. In fact, she loved telling me that story! Playfulness = Thai people. To tell a stranger that story is a way the Thais deflect what actually might irritate them; a way of coping with something out of their control. It told me that all those women were irritated with their boss for installing such a thing but they laughed it off, found a way around using it and loved telling me about what they had done. So great!
I can't say enough good things about my experience having a root canal! I bet you have never heard anyone say that, nor will you ever! I will always be amazed at how I could see one of the best endodontists in Chiang Mai, a city known all over Asia for providing great dental care, and how he could take care of me with such short notice. If we had been in Chiang Mai I could have even had the entire procedure done about two hours after I initially inquired. That's astounding to me coming from the U.S. where any sort of medical appointment takes weeks, months.
Dr. Saelo confidently told me that when he was finished with the procedure I would have no pain anymore. So far that has been true, however it's only been a bit more than 24 hours. While we wait to see if that was the problem with my tooth we get to have an extra week in Chiang Mai, which I kind of originally wanted! The other thing is that it has been raining cats and dogs. We are in the midst of the remnants of a second major typhoon that hit both the Philippines and Vietnam hard. We can ride in the rain, of course, but rainy days are more for getting root canals.
lovebruce
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Always pay in the local currency when using a credit card. Paying in dollars is inevitably a bad exchange rate.
2 months ago
I always carry large amounts of US$ and exchange it for Thai Baht at Super Rich Exchange which always gives the best rates. I could have paid cash for my root canal bill but I wanted to preserve the amount of cash I brought.
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