English, baby!

Toothache?

Date: Oct 20 2006

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

Everybody has to go to the dentist sometime. If you’re lucky, you won’t have any cavities. You can just get your teeth cleaned once or twice a year.

Many people are afraid of the dentist. Even a regular cleaning can be uncomfortable, even painful.

Dental care can be expensive too. But in the States, if you have dental insurance, you may not have to pay much for dental services.

Listen to Amanda and Kevin talk about the dentist.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Kevin

Amanda

Kevin: I think the only thing I like having done at the dentist is when I go and get my teeth cleaned.

Amanda: Are you being serious?

Kevin: Yes.

Amanda: I think getting your teeth cleaned is more painful that having actual work done.

Kevin: I think you need a new dentist.

Amanda: Well, maybe. See, my dad is my dentist.

Kevin: Oh! Sorry.

Amanda: He’s just retired, though, so no, no offense taken.

Kevin: Ok. Ok.

Amanda: But…

Kevin: I’m sure he’s a really good dentist, nothing against your father.

Amanda: No problem. Have you noticed that you can go years and have no problems whatsoever, and then a six-month span will come and boom, all your teeth go basically to crap.

Kevin: Unbelievable. When it rains it pours. Yes.

Amanda: And you know, your insurance coverage, it… you have a max.

Kevin: Yes.

Amanda: You have three, four services done, you’re capped out.

Kevin: And that’s it.

Amanda: Then you’re out of luck. You need a root canal, you need your wisdom teeth taken out, you’re paying out of pocket. And it’s not like you can wait till the next year for your insurance to come back in.

Kevin: ‘Cause it hurts. Like, when you have, like, a serious tooth problem, you can’t wait for that. I mean it’s… I… Once when I was in college, I was eating a piece of pizza and two halves of two teeth fell out. And I went then to the dentist at the university and he said that my childhood dentist loved metal so he filled my cavity…

Amanda: Amalgam.

Kevin: ...too much.

Amanda: Yes.

Kevin: So now I have two crowns…

Amanda: And they don’t even use that anymore.

Kevin: Yeah. It really stunk.

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Discussion

Amanda and Kevin disagree about what is more painful: a cleaning or other dental work.

When Amanda says she thinks a cleaning is more painful, Kevin says she needs a new dentist. Oops! He doesn’t realize that Amanda’s dad is her dentist. He apologizes for the comment, but Amanda is not offended.

Amanda’s father is retired. That means he doesn’t work anymore because he is of a certain age. In the US, most people retire from working around the age of 65.

Amanda says that you can sometimes experience many dental problems at once. She says, “all your teeth go basically to crap.”

“Going to crap” is a slang expression that means something has degenerated or the quality is not as good as it was. This is a very casual expression, not appropriate for all situations.

Multiple dental problems can become expensive because most dental insurance policies only pay for a limited amount.

Kevin had to have two crowns put in because his former dentist overfilled his cavities. Crowns are artificial extensions used on broken or rotten teeth.

Are you afraid of the dentist?

Is dental care expensive where you live?

Click here for more about the dentist

Comments

NIJ321655

United States

Toothache hates bad i hat them.

Whitehead

United States

The private institutes should invest their capital in the education and best college paper writing service if they want to develop their country they should contribute in this way and make their country future bright and make proud of the country.

mahsa_aisa

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

soso we cant actually say its expensive because it is troublous job

abu_shehab

Israel

believe me my friends it's really stunk and bad experience.

hasan5

Pakistan

Ya, its good and useful for me because i’ve teeth problem.
Its too expensive in Pakistan .

amany7

Saudi Arabia

Are you afraid of the dentist?
I actully get a fraid sometimes , but at least we end with somethins

Is dental care expensive where you live?
it is free,

thanks for the nice lesson

isabellaego

Botswana

i learned interesting words thanks!!!!

ayenk

Indonesia

expensive in Japan i think.

Serbia_Boy

Serbia and Montenegro

good story with excelent vocabulary…

Jeff456

Taiwan

Q:Is dental care expensive where you live?
A: I don’t think that dental care is expensive in Taiwan, unless you have lots of cavitie that need to pull out.