Poor Mick broke a tooth while eating……

…. a banana baguette. Sounds impossible, but true.

It happened just before Easter (just on ten days ago) which meant that most dentists were closed for almost a week. I called several in the nearby area and eventually was able to make an appointment for him.

I say ‘eventually’, because I still find having conversations on the phone in French the hardest thing to do. Initially, I thought the woman on the end of the phone said he could have an appointment tomorrow (demain), but in fact she was saying “deux mai” – the second of May. Honestly, they do sound very much alike – to me anyway. The next problem was with the time. She said “treize heures trente” and my brain immediately thought 3.30pm, but in France it is more common to use 24 hour time and Mick’s appointment was actually at 1.30pm (or thirteen hours and 30 minutes).

Anyway, on the 2nd May, Mick and I made our way to Saint Gervais (where I had my haircut) to meet the dentist – with plenty of time to spare. The waiting room looked and felt very familiar. And the smell of the surgery also was a familiar smell to both of us. We were the only two there. The woman I had spoken with before when I made the appointment was nowhere to be seen.

There was the obligatory form to fill in before the appointment which we managed okay. I only had to look up a few words to make sure I was not answering YES when it should have been NO.

Right on 1.30pm, a young man dressed in a white lab coat came into the room and asked for Monsieur Cavanagh to follow him.

Thirty minutes later, Mick appeared with the same young man, with his tooth repaired (as best as could be done). The dentist had explained to Mick that his tooth was broken and would need further attention once he was back in Australia. In the meantime, he did a repair job, without the need for a needle, which he thinks will last the distance until we return home.

I explained that I would like a receipt because I might need to make a claim on our travel insurance. But, when he told me the charge was €70, I actually did not need the receipt as any claim must be more than $250. We both thought the price was very reasonable.

Mick told me afterwards that the dentist was a solo operation. He did all the dental work without the help of a dental assistant and he also fixed up the invoice and took our credit card payment. Very efficient indeed.