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Artikel in der norwegischen Tageszeitung "Oppland Arbeiderblad" vom 13.01.07

Oppland Arbeiderblad : www.oa.no

Reisebericht: Zur Zahnbehandlung nach Danzig mit GODENTA

Text und Fotos : Geir Norling ; geir.norling@oa.no

  
Originaltext in norwegisch :

Übersetzung des Originaltextes in Englisch !
Deutsche Übersetzung in Vorbereitung !

Dental Treatment For Half the Price

Even with my infinitesimal knowledge of the Polish language I understood what I had to do. I opened my mouth wide and Maja Rakowska, the dentist, looked inside.

I was at the dentist in Gdynia, Poland. The reason was that I had lost a filling. Not just a normal filling, but an enormous one. I felt that my tongue disappeared inside the hole each time I checked how big it was. My dentist in Norway meant that there was no use filling the tooth if the hole was so big that my tongue disappeared in it. The tooth needed to be given a crown. I knew that I had a similar filling on the other side of my oral cavity as well. It was then I remembered that Polish dentists were just as good as Norwegian, but considerably cheaper.  I took a chance and decided for a Polish dentist.
I could combine the dental visit with a one-week holiday. The weather forecast promised seven days of good weather. The golf course in Postołowo was opened, so I could spend the time between the dental pleasures hitting a golf ball.

How do I find an English speaking dentist, I thought. I knew that knowledge of English among Poles was not very good. I sat down at the computer, opened Google and typed: <Dentist + Gdansk >.
By a lucky chance I found www.godenta.com. I sent an email and got an answer from Reinhard Pletzer. He wrote that he represented many dentists in Gdynia-Gdansk area and could arrange a dental visit at short notice. He also estimated that a crown would cost around 1000 PLN. The dental treatment would take five to seven days. I took a chance and he arranged a visit in Medico Dent i Gdynia. I quickly realized that Godenta arranged dental trips, preferably for Germans with toothache. The price was the same. Godenta took commission for providing the dentists with new clients. And that’s not all. They could also arrange accommodation, transport and anything a tourist would need in a foreign country. I used some of their services. Reinhard Pletzer supplied me with a hire car at a reasonable price, lower than I would get in large international car hire companies. He met me at the airport with a map and a paper with useful telephone numbers.

Remarks from GODENTA : "Mr. Norling also got a mobilphone with a polish card, free of charge for the time of his visit, so he could use all this numbers for the very low polish fees.

I got accommodation at a guesthouse near the golf course in Postołowo. I knew from my previous visit that I would get a room and good food for 240 NOK a day, breakfast included.

The next day I drove to Gdynia. Thanks to the good map it wasn’t difficult to find the way. What the map didn't tell me was that it was nearly impossible to find a parking place. There were cars everywhere, on the pavement and along the streets. Keeping the Norwegian traffic culture in mind, I was considering parking in a little parking space but I waited too long and a Pole stole it. I realized why there are so many small cars in Poland. Only small cars can park everywhere. I learned quickly and soon I found a parking space that would make the eyes of an Europark parking guard in Norway twinkle with greed.

Remarks from GODENTA : It was christmas shopping time and we reserved a parking in the front of the dentist`s office for 30 min, but Mr.Norling parked somewhere else and came on foot, so we didn´t saw him.

At the dentist I was met by Maja Rakowska. She was one of five dentists at this dentist’s office. I noticed that it was a modern office.  Maja Rakowska looked young, later I found out that she was 28 years old. She took a look into my mouth and told me what I already knew: there was a biiig hole.
- Your tooth needs root canal treatment and strengthening before I can place the crown. It looks like I have to do the same with the other tooth, she said when the x-ray was taken.
The x-ray was for that matter taken electronically and my row of teeth was shown on a computer display. I was informed that the dental treatment would take a week, with three visits. During the first visit the tooth would be treated with root canal therapy, during the second it would be strengthened and the index taken. The dental technician needs a couple of days to make the porcelain crown. The crown would be placed during the third visit.
Maja Rakowska was a competent and thorough dentist. I spent six hours on the dentist chair altogether, during the three visits. The second visit was the longest. I didn’t feel any pain. The crowns were placed during the third visit and everything was trouble-free.
We conversed in English, since Maja spoke English well. I paid a total of 3000 PLN. or 6394 NOK, ( 1 PLN costs 2,13 NOK )
Maja Rakowska looked at my amalgam fillings: You have 11 amalgam fillings. It would take three visits, an hour and a half each, to replace amalgam fillings with composite fillings. It will cost some 2000 PLN.

What can you do in Gdynia-Gdansk between your dental appointments? A lot. Poland is an exciting holiday country. I believe shopping happy tourists would find the shops exciting and reasonable. There are many shopping centres along E-6 bypass road. You will find known international shop chains there as well. In the cities there are also many shops. It is said that you can get shoes at very reasonable price in Poland, but my knowledge about shoe prices is too limited to tell how you make a bargain here. When I looked at the prices it seemed cheap. I had my hair cut and got really surprised. I found a hairdresser in a big shopping centre. He spoke only Polish, but with finger movements I managed to explain how I wanted to get my hair cut. It costed me 15 PLN (32 NOK). Women with more complicate hairstyles can pull off a coup. Full head colour was on special offer from 49 PLN (105 NOK).

Prices in Poland are in PLN. You double the Polish price, add a bit and then you get the price in NOK. Poland hasn’t introduced euro. One I spoke with told me that it wouldn’t be introduced until 2012. They don’t want to double the prices as other countries that introduced euro, he said.
For those with an active lifestyle there are many fitness centres to choose between. I was in the newly opened Aqua park on the border between Gdynia and Sopot. It is an impressive bathing center with excellent sauna facilities. You can choose between seven different saunas. One hour here costs 25 PLN. The whole day – 40 PLN. On top of that I wanted a massage, it was 60 PLN for one hour. In summertime you can enjoy long, fine beaches in Sopot, a city between Gdynia and Gdansk. These three cities are close to each other and form one big city.

Old town in Gdansk is also worth visiting. This old hanseatic city was completely bombed out during the Second World War. Shortly after the war ended this historic district was rebuild stone after stone and now it is just as it was before the war, authentic and impressive. You feel the history when you walk around the old town. You’ll find many cafés and restaurants here with good food at nice prices. There are also many shops with amber jewellery here, since there’s a lot of amber in this part of the Baltic Sea.
I myself played golf. Despite the fact that it was December the golf course in Postołowo was in good condition. I stayed at the “Noce i Dnie” guesthouse nearby. They have very nice prices here. In the city it is obviously more expensive, but it’s no problem to find good hotels with reasonable prices in Gdansk-Sopot-Gdynia.

How much did I save? I contacted Norwegian dentists to get a price for the dental treatment I had in Poland. They didn’t give me any exact price, but approximately I paid less then half the Norwegian price. One of the dentists in Norway told me that I would pay around 16000 NOK for two root canal treatments, strengthening and crowns made in Norway. If the crowns were made in the East, what is very common, I would pay a bit less. What makes the dental treatment in Poland expensive is the journey, stay and other transport. But my arithmetic calculation showed that I still saved money although I had to buy air ticket on short notice with Norwegian that has direct fights to Gdansk. 

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