North Americans probably have the best dental care in the world. One of the first things I noticed when I first started travelling was that in other countries, you see lots of rotten teeth. This is true in China, but no more so than in other places I have visited, such as Europe or South America. I don’t believe this is because other countries have lower standards of medical care. I think it is mostly because Americans, especially children, go to the dentist a lot more often.

A few months ago I did an exercise with one of my classes, where I asked them to rank different occupations by level of prestige. I was surprised when one of my students told me that she thought dentists had the least prestige of any profession. When I asked why, she said that dentists were unnecessary. She said that she had never been to a dentist, and had never had any problems with her teeth. Looking at her smile, I had no reason to disagree, but I was still a little shocked at the sentiment. I feel guilty if I let six months go by without a checkup.

The other day we had our first dentist appointment in China. Since we have in here for ten months, that means we were both overdue. Finding a dentist was not too difficult. There was one that came up over and over again when we asked other expats for advice. “Go to David Dental,” they said. “The staff speaks English and they are very gentle.”

Only one of our friends had anything bad to say about David Dental. Our friend Marlene said that they refused to treat her there because she was three months pregnant when she went for an appointment. They told her they would not clean her teeth because the discomfort might cause her to miscarry her baby. That is exactly the opposite thing they tell pregnant women in the West. Things are different here.

They should not have been so concerned about Marlene’s comfort, because the cleaning I got at David Dental was the gentlest in my life. They barely scraped at all. Instead of using an American style tooth polisher, they spray a watery mix of chemicals into your mouth under high pressure. Yet another example of how things are different here.

David Dental is probably the most expensive dental clinic in the very chic city of Qingdao, but our treatment still cost a fraction of what it would in the States. Keeping up with our biannual visits shouldn’t be a problem.