3 Root Canals, 2 Months, Less Than 20,000 Yen

Finally, at long last, I have finished my last root canal of the year. I am very grateful to my dentist who went through and carved out all the bad bits and then installed whatever it is that they install in the roots of teeth that require root canals now before filling each of my three root-canaled teeth with resin that was molded to match the contours of each respective damaged tooth.

This process took a lot longer than I would have expected. Back on January 30th, I received the news that I would requiring three root canals and a filling. I wasn't excited about it but I was happy to be finally dealing with my own personal hell of going to the dentist.

I have a nice dentist, but I also have childhood trauma involving dentistry, so it's not always easy to just go and take care of myself in the way that I know I need to. This last appointment was made more important by the fact that my daughter also needed to go in and get one of her baby teeth removed because it was being very stubborn about getting out of the way for an adult tooth that should be coming to the surface soon.

Luckily, my dentist could fit us in together, so I went in for my appointment with my daughter keeping me company and then we went across the room so my daughter could have her appointment. Everything was done within about half an hour and it was just very easy.

My daughter was very brave, though she also has no reason to fear the dentist, which is fantastic. The utter joy of finding a good dentist for my kid cannot be overstated.

She won't be like me, 40 years old almost and still shaking when she sits in the dentist's chair. Honestly, this experience of seeing the dentist at least once every two weeks for a couple of months has really helped me with that, too. I was forced to deal with that fear and working on calm, controlled breathing was especially beneficial.

If you also need dental work in Japan, prepare to spend a little time in the chair. Each visit might be short, but there will likely be many to get the jobs done. The bonus is that you likely won't be paying for it all at once and this gives you ample chance to overcome your nerves if you also have any residual past dental trauma.

Over the course of two months, I saw the dentist 5 times to finish my three root canals and one filling. A few of the appointments cost between 3000 and 4000 yen, and one or two were over 4000 yen. All told they average out to less than 20,000 yen which is now $132. I no longer fear the dentist and can eat normally again!