Stephanie Goes to the Dentist

Happy to report that Polish dentists are modern and very much like American dentists.  It was strange to go to someone other than Dr. Maihofer, my dentist of, well...forever.  However, the dentist was quite nice.

Weird differences

1. Flossing.  My dentist in the States always flosses my teeth as part of a cleaning...the Polish dentist did, but not with floss.  She had this super high powered water flosser.  It actually hurt my gums a bit because it was like a powerwasher for teeth.
2. Cavity search.  Not the policeman kind!  Geeze.  Unlike the uncomfortable little metal pick being dug into my molars to search for soft spots.  Nope, she just kind of looked at all my teeth and found cavities that way.  Weirdness.
3. Water sucker thingy.  Instead of having me rinse often, there was a constant stream of water and vacuuming apparatus in my mouth.  Only problem, is the vacuuming occurred even when there wasn't water being pumped into my mouth which resulted in an extremely dry mouth.
4. Being told, "You don't need this injection...it probably won't hurt that much."
5. Metal ring encircling my tooth.  Prior to the dentist appointment, my tooth was hurting quite a bit, so I was concerned that I had bigger problems than a cavity.  At my filling appointment, the dentist pulled out this huge metal clamp around my tooth and I started freaking out on the inside.  My mouth was already numbed and the tooth drilled out so it wasn't like I could make her stop and walk out.  So I just had to sit quietly and hope that I wasn't going to have a giant band of metal around my tooth forever.  Silly me forgot to ask her what the metal part was for, but it was removed.
6. I know this happens in American dentists too, but my dentist is awesome and usually just fills my cavities the same day as my appointment.  However, the Polish dentist sent me home and told me to come back the next week.  This week, she only filled one of two cavities so I have to go back AGAIN next week!

So after my filling, I wanted to tell some of my friends that I was at the dentist earlier that day (in Polish).  So, I gave them the typical formula for saying I was at a certain location...the same thing I would say if I wanted to indicate I was at the university or at the library.

Laughing commenced.  And the correct preposition was taught.  Apparently, Polish requires a different "at" preposition for doctor's offices.  Weird...I know.

Anyways, I was relating this story back to some Polish girls I've been hanging out with recently.  And they translated what I actually said the first time..."I was on top of the dentist this morning."  A bit of a risque statement for a conversation with a priest, but a very amusing grammar slip up.  Another day in my Polish life...I'm used to the crazy grammar.