I personally hate to visit my dentist. Neither because she is a unprofessional dental care provider or I doubt her experience or attitude, it's just simply because I have very bad teeth, and since I was small, I feel ashamed of showing my poorly bad teeth to her or her dental hygienist.

But still, I have to pick up the phone and answer it when I see the number appear on my cell which is from my dentist's assistant calling me every six months for next appointment of teeth cleaning. I always think there's no problem as long as there's no hurt on my teeth.

In Canada, especially in Toronto or Vancouver, there are a lot of immigrants and visitors from other countries and there's no doubt that most of them didn't speak English when they were in their home counties. Find a dentist who can understand your speaking and need is essential and most important.

I remember when I first came to the country, saw an advertising stick on my front door about a new opened dentistry office near to my home. My husband immediately realized that it's much more convenient for us to have a closer dental care rather than travel 1 hour to find someone else. For the time saving sake, I totally agreed with him and decided to visit this dentist for our very beginning dental care journey in this country.

The good news was he offered 20% off discount for our first visit and because our insurance company only covers 80% of total expense, we were bill free on this visit.

Despite of all the cons, the process itself was torture. First of all, no one in the dentist office was able to speak my home language, and my English was not good enough to tell what I was looking for. After half a hour communication with sign language and some simple words, I finally filled out the form, showed my insurance card, health card and started waiting in the reception area.

There's no difference that you need to wait until your doctor or dentist is available. And I am not going to complain about the waiting time. Actually I had my best part of the time during the entire visit until I was told to hop on that dental chair. The dental hygienist was a very young lady speaks perfectly local English which I could barely understand.

Basically, I understood nothing about what she said. I was guessing she's saying that I should visit dental office more frequently or be more aware of my dental health. Before I went to the dental office I had questions about bleeding gum, how to choose the best toothbrush and how to use the floss correctly. At this moment, I forgot everything but leaving the place as soon as possible. Not even mention that I was able to have that promised 20 percent discount.

After that, I low willingness of visiting dentist became lower and lower until my friend recommended a qualified dentist who was from my country. She had her doctor degree here in Canada and has been running her business for years. When I talked to her and her assistants in her office, there's no barrier any more.