I got to my dentist in plenty of time before I left on my world trip. In addition to his concerns about the condition of my teeth, he was also seriously concerned about my plans.You should know he’s Italian. And his English was loud and clear:
I felt increasingly burdened as I tried to keep beaming at him with my world travel plans in mind.
Then he switched to the X-rays; you have 4 potential vulcanos in your mouth. We need to make sure that you are not going to get into trouble on the ocean, with pain that’s killing you.
Now I take advice from doctors and dentists quite seriously, so the appointment for the first renovation work on my teeth was quickly added to the agenda.
When I had recovered from the shock at home, I decided to go for a second opinion to my old dentist, where I had been a client for over 10 years.
With his always friendly and charming smile, he listened to my stories and took new X-rays. Which I did not dare to ask my current dentist… He compared the photos and indicated that he could imagine that my new dentist wanted to do everything he could to help me enjoy my world trip pain-free. And that he advised me not to do anything about it, because it has been stable for years and looked good.
Reassured, I went home. The departure of my world trip has now been postponed by a year because I will be sailing for three years instead of two years. In the meantime, I went to the dental hygienist twice a year and when she asked ‘Should I just do the check-up right away, so you don’t have to go to the dentist?’ I immediately said yes.
During my last check-up, she advised me to go to the dentist and have new x-rays taken. So today I ended up in the treatment room again with my Italian dentist.
He remembered me immediately and I informed him of the second opinion and my departure on July 1st. He tried to convince me not to go and made me some Lasagna. As I continued to smile and respond to his advice to take different types of antibiotics (I have six different types on board) and not just painkillers, but also injection painkillers (I have those, plus morphine, plus advice from the radio medical service via satellite telephone if necessary), I felt more and more tension in my body.
I walked out the door feeling slightly worried. Then just contact someone who approaches health in a different way. She showed me a diagram of the connection of the teeth and the organs.
Well what can I do. Want to visit a dentist a few times during my trip? Hopefully the stability of recent years will remain in my teeth. Trust that self-healing capacity will increase, because I will soon be more and more connected to myself?
Breath in breath out…