In a sad bit of irony, I found out from the dentist yesterday that the pain I am feeling in my teeth is not because my teeth are falling out of my head or even because of the cavity (which was tiny and quickly filled), but because of overzealous toothbrushing, which wore away the enamel at the gums, exposing the sensitive, darker-colored dentin. Of course, when I spotted this darker color at the base of my back teeth a few months ago, I became convinced my teeth were going to fall out and started brushing even harder, which only made the problem worse. It makes me wince just thinking about it.

Health insurance in Japan doesn't cover regular cleanings, only treatment for problems, so dental care here has a bad reputation among those from the perfect-teeth-obsessed U.S. It's true that when they said they were going to do "a cleaning," they only cleaned the teeth they were going to work on. And there were no X-rays, just a tiny camera that took pictures of the problem area, which the dentist didn't find himself. I had to take a hand mirror and point out where the cavity was. But the dentist was funny and nice and, even though he hardly spoke any English, the experience wasn't as scary as you would imagine, lying in the chair under the light, face covered in a towel (to protect against splashback -- they do it while washing your hair at hair salons too), picks and drills hovering over me in the hands of a dentist who told me about the procedure in a language I just barely understand.

I was comforted somewhat by the way the dentist kept saying how "kirei" (pretty) my teeth were in comparison to Japanese people's teeth (his words, not mine). I thought about some of my students and their blackened front teeth and realized I really have nothing to worry about in the realm of teeth and terror.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to eat a box of candy in preparation for Japanese Candy Friday....