Two fillings, no novocaine, $36. . .

We had our six-month cleaning and checkup a while back and Lucy skated through with no hitches. I, on the other hand, came up with two cavities. One on the left and one on the right. The one on the right was so small, the dentist tossed that in as a freebie and only charged me for one filling.

I had yet to have a filling here in Costa Rica, and there was a little trepidation about what it would be like. I arrived at the office a little early and then was taken to the room and put in the chair. The dentist and her assistant were listening to a World Cup match on the radio.

Dentist: "Do you want some novocaine for this?"

Me: "Uh, am I going to need it?"

Dentist: "No."

Me: "OK, just please don't make me cry."

(This was all done in English, thankfully, as the dentist speaks it well. I don't know if I'll ever be confident enough in my Spanish to talk about drilling and novocaine).

About 20 minutes later, both fillings were in and I didn't cry. Just a couple of twinges while she was drilling the larger hole.

I slid out of the chair, got the score update on the match and ponied up the $36.00 for the fillings. We don't have dental insurance here, but with these prices, we're probably not going to need it, I would guess.