Fire at the Dentist's Office

I went to the dentist today and it was an experience. As I was getting ready I picked up my keys, which were next to my camera and for a second I almost brought my camera, but I thought to myself "Why would I need a camera at the dentist office?" so I left it at home. First, I couldn't find the bus stop to get there and in my haste to leave and be on time I forgot all of my identification. I didn't have anything, no state id, no passport, insurance card, nothing. So, when I got there I told them my name and that I had an appointment and they couldn't find my name. I told them again and I saw my last name on the paper next to the first name "Destiny". I tell them that my last name is right, but that is not my first name. I am sure someone was dictating the names of the patients for the day and when my name came up they were in such disbelief that my name could be Darci that they knew they misheard and changed it to a more sensible name, like Destiny.

The woman at the desk was so rude. I speak Castellano fine, not awesome or out of this world porteña style, but fine. However, she was talking so fast that I could not understand a word she was saying and then when she realized I couldn't understand her, so spoke to me like I was deaf. I was so outdone. I ignored her and started talking to someone more polite and gave her my info. One hurdle down.

Then, I go in to see the doctor. While I am waiting, I look around the room for a diploma. I spot it, and it is a photocopy. She seems nice enough and asks me what the problem is. I told her I think I have a cavity and that it hurts when I eat sweet things. She goes in with the tools and picks around and says she doesn't see anything irregular. I am then expecting her to do an exam of my whole mouth and tell me if there are any other problems, or cavities, which she does not do. She asks me again what kind of pain I have and I describe it again and she decided to take an x-ray. I waited for her to come back with the results and she began to explain that there is nothing irregular in the x-ray and that I should use sensitivity toothpaste, which I already do.

She then calls the nurse in to give her this metal thing which looks like a little round jewlery box very similar to the picture above, only without the flame and the nurse leaves. The dentist tells me that she wants to check for sensitivity to hot and cold. I already told her I didn't have problems with hot and cold, but I figured I would humor her. I hear her say something about "fuego" to the nurse and I sat straight up in the chair. She then attempts to comfort me by saying that I wasn't going to die, but I was not worried about dying, I was worried about why she needed fire in a dentists office. I imagined she would give me some hot water, or tea to see if I was sensitive to heat, but no, that would be way to easy. She takes a lighter from the nurse and lights what i thought was a jewelry box and it turns into a burning flame. I am not having it now. I was freaking out. She then put one of her metal pokeys into the fire and tried to put it into my mouth. I tried to imagine this happening the the United States, and then I realized, oh, this would never happen, because this is crazy. She pokes my tooth and when I have no problem she attempts to keep heating the metal probe until it gets hotter and hotter. She knew I was not about to let her do it again and she backed off.

She gave me a little tube of sensitivity toothpaste that I already have at home and she told me to come back in a week and if I still have the problem then she will have to look into some other method. I played along and I went to the front desk and scheduled the appointment, but those people must be crazy to think I am going back there. I will have to wait until I get back to the land of the free and the home of the brave.