Root Canals and Rio

I believe I promised/threatened some information about a Brasilean root canal. Well, they´re probably about the same as a US root canal (no surprise), except that they seem to be a heck of a lot cheaper.

I have now had 3 visits to the dentist, the first one being after hours at 7 p.m. He took xrays, identified the problem and tried just doing a filling, although the tooth had already been pretty heavily worked on and he wasn´t particularly hopeful. That visit cost me R$75.00. A couple of days later when, as expected, the filling hadn´t really solved the problem, I went back for a second visit, and he did the root canal. That time I didn´t pay anything. Today, I was back for the third appointment and he finished the root canal. Mind you, there is a language problem between us, but that was my understanding of what he was doing. Today I paid R$390. So the total so far is about $260 US.

I still have to make one more visit in about 3 weeks, when Heitor and I get back from Rio, when he will put on a crown, so the final total is going to be more, but it´s not likely to be too shocking.

The next installment will be from Rio. Heitor and I leave tomorrow and don´t return to São Paulo until 9 October. Heitor will be working hard, and I will not be doing much of anything, except maybe see about 1 movie per day, maximum. Heitor will have to endure many more than that, and then write about them. I have the better deal.

Tchau