So the dental appointment yesterday was non-eventful. I had been warned that I needed a root canal procedure on a back tooth, and a crown placed on that same tooth. Yesterday’s appointment was to discuss my ‘plan’. In addition to the two aforementioned procedures I also require an ‘onlay’ on a different tooth (whatever that means?).

I blanched in horror when she told me the price – not exactly a steal at 2,150 euro (€650 for the root canal; €850 for the crown and €650 for the onlay). I know that I can claim 20% of this back through tax; and my health insurance with work will cover another €500. But that’s still an outlay (as opposed to an onlay) of the entire amount before waiting a year to claim some back.

That simply wouldn’t do.

So online I went and started googling dentists in Poland.

In early January, on the same date I was planning to start my treatment in Ireland, I will be flying to Gdansk.

For a cost of €730 I will get the exact same treatment done. I just have to travel thousands of miles to do it. Never having been to Gdansk (which is why I selected that location rather than Warsaw, which I have previously visited) I decided to book a few extra days in the city for a little break. Return flights, four nights’ accommodation in a pleasant hotel and the dental treatment will cost me €940 in total. Some of this will still be reclaimable through tax.

Clearly I am not the only Johnny Foreigner who has availed of the cheaper prices in Poland. The clinic I have booked has an English language website specifically targeting foreigners.

The reviews are good.

I am mightily looking forward to my trip to Poland for a spot of dental tourism.

The sheer glamour of my life. Root canal treatment in a faraway land.