Ruth and the sunset at the island of Dhiffushi, Maldives.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Kuwait City, Kuwait on March 31st.

Friday, November 26, 2021

Ruth's dentist update, and does anybody know what these are...?

There's a lot of rain in the forecast for the next four days, so we figured we had better get out and enjoy the day. It's a great area for hiking and biking, and we had not yet taken the bikes heading south along the road outside the campground.

Also, we heard back from the dentist regarding straightening Ruth's lower teeth. She has nice teeth and they are all her own, but we have noticed over the last five years or so that the front lower ones have become a little crooked. We would not be able to justify spending the money that it would cost in Canada or the U.S., but we figured our dentist here in Albania might come up with something more cost effective.

And he has.

He sent me a WhatsApp message last night at 11:00pm! The cost for invisible aligners will be €600 ($860 CAD, $675 USD) and it will be a five month treatment process.  For comparison, the research we did says that this would cost minimum $2,500 USD in the states, so likely $3,200 CAD or so in Canada..

He has to do an impression of her mouth, and then a computer scan. After that, it takes a few days to customize the aligners. Once Ruth has the aligners, there are no further dental visits required until the end of the treatment program. She just has to switch out aligners every two weeks or so. And then we have to come back here to see him again towards the end of April, so the timing is pretty much perfect.

So we're going to go ahead and get that done. We're hanging around here anyhow waiting for our new water filter, so it's not putting us off schedule at all. Not that we have a schedule!

Out for a bike ride.

School in the village of Bejkollar Bilce.

This would be a nice little campsite!

Scenery along the way.


Ruth found some blackberries.

Yuck.
This is why we have hybrid mountain bikes and not just street bikes.


Making my way through a stream.

We came across this plant that has both flowers and fruit.

Does anybody know what these are...?



They have a kind of a peach like flesh inside.

There are quite a few persimmon trees.

Eventually we parked the bikes and continued on foot.

There are actually quite a few rural homes up here and this is their only access road!

We walked up to the reservoir for a view of the valley.

The reservoir is pretty low at this time of year, but that is normal.

However with the rain they are calling for over the next four days it will likely be fuller next week!


Some of the homes up here.

Looking back towards Berat.

We turned around and headed back. We did 8 kms biking, and 3 kms hiking, so it was a decent couple of hours out exploring.

On the opposite side of the road, they have quite a few turkeys. 
I bet they are glad they are in Albania yesterday and not the United States!

As they forecast, we woke up to pouring rain this morning and it's supposed to be like this for the next four days!

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Lots of Black Friday deals today!

Big discounts on Men's and Women's Levi's Jeans and a wide variety of Coleman Camping Gear.

And in Canada...

20 comments:

  1. Please consider that, after the treatment, Ruth will have to wear "retainers" forever. That is a thin wire from behind tooth 3 to tooth 3 on the other side, which makes cleaning much more complicated. On the other hand this will prevent the teeth from future moving.

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    1. I am aware of the possibility of having to wear a small wire retainer but I am pretty sure that with these Invisalign aligners that you just wear the last aligner at bedtime to keep your teeth in place. We will find out more when we see the dentist later today.

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  2. Pretty sure your plant is a Strawberry Tree. Native to Europe (cultivated widely as an ornamental in N America, especially the Pacific Northwest for some reason, though it's drought tolerant). Apparently in Albania they make a raki from it.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbutus_unedo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, that is exactly what this plant is. I haven't heard of anyone making raki from it but I am sure that someone has. We had read that in Italy they make a distilled liqueur from it. We would love to try tasting either one of these drinks. :-)

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  3. The tree that bears both flowers and fruit seems to me to be called in French : les fleurs (et les fruits) de la passion. Sorry, don't know the correct word in English! Passion fruit maybe?

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    1. The little berry type of fruit is called Medronho berries and are quite different from the passion fruit. This fruit is sort of hairy/rough on the outside and a different colour of red. I think the passion fruit might also be a little larger. Thank you for your suggestion though. :-)

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  4. The berry you questioned appears to be a strawberry from a strawberry tree. found here https://www.allyouneedisveg.de/into-the-wild/

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    1. Yes, you are correct it is from the strawberry tree or the proper name is Arbutus unedo. Thank you very much. :-)

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  5. The berries you picked are from the "Western Strawberry-tree" as identified by the App: PlantSnap.
    I copied your photo and stuck it into the App, which instantly identified it. The fruit are edible. Get the App, its free and fantastic!

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    1. Thank you Marlene, I think that Kevin has added the app to our phone. I did find it online though after I read the post when Kevin asked what type of plant is this, lol?!

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  6. Glad to hear that the otto treatment is so cheap in Albania. Once the correction is done she can just wear the last retainer every night to hold the correction. I just love the countryside where you are.

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    1. We are also glad that this treatment is so much more affordable for us here in Albania. That is what we thought would happen. It makes sense that you would just wear the last aligner at night to keep the teeth in place.

      We really love the countryside here as well. We just don't get tired of it at all. :-)

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  7. Great deal on the aligners, and nice that there are no appointments required in between. I had traditional braces and had to go every month for 14 months, so we were stuck in Florida for over a year for that. I really should have worn them even longer, as I had one front top tooth that was extremely ornery, but we had reservations in Mexico and had to skeedaddle. I paid $3200 US for my treatment, but I had traditional braces and on both top and bottom arches, so I actually got off "cheap" by US standards (and likely Canadian as well).

    Glad you got out for a bike ride before the rains came. Looks like those puddles won't be drying out for awhile. That road looked like Belize during rainy season. We rode through many a huge puddle on our cruiser bikes down there, since sometimes there was no way to go around them.

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    1. It is a great price, we are so happy that it is so affordable for us here. Thankfully my bottom teeth aren't too crocked so the treatment doesn't require a lot of time to correct. Both our children also had to have the traditional metal braces for a total of 24 months each so we know all about the monthly trips to the dentist for adjustments and also all about the prices, thankfully I had dental insurance with the company I worked for so the braces only cost us half the normal price once the insurance paid their portion of the braces. Yes, I think that is about what we paid for each of the kids braces too. You probably could have found an orthodontist in Mexico that could have finished doing the adjustments for you. At least you got them straightened and that they seem to be staying stable for you.

      We were so happy to get out for that bike ride as yesterday was a total indoor day. Nope, those puddles won't be drying up any time soon, we have lots of rain in the forecast over the next few days. With some of the rough terrain we were riding over, I don't think cruiser bikes would have done so well on this road, we were glad to have our suspension on our bikes for this ride at least.

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  8. I just started the Invisalign treatment two months ago at age 66. It’s a straightforward treatment. You have to get used to brushing three times a day after meals. No snacking is hard to get used to but ok. (It’s called the Invisalign diet 😉). There is a little soreness each time new aligners are used but it slowly dissipates over the two week period then it starts again. I’m glad I started it and am looking forward to next August when I’m done.

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    1. Thank you so much for your firsthand experience with the Invisalign treatment. It sounds pretty encouraging. I am pretty excited about this and I am also looking forward to the end result. We will definitely keep people up to date with the process when I get fitted with the first aligner which will hopefully be on Thursday.

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  9. I got braces in my fifties and my teeth are still straight...no retainers. However my teeth xray shows short tooth roots. Dentist says 'You must have had braces.' He tells me braces shorten tooth roots.

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    1. Glad to hear that your teeth have stayed straightened for you since you had the braces.

      We have never heard that braces shorten the tooth roots before though, so I looked it up and it seems that the information goes both ways on this. Thankfully my teeth aren't terribly crooked so the treatment time is shorter than many so hopefully there will be no damage to my roots.

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  10. Very interesting. I once saw what I thought was a lychee tree in Orgosolo, Sardinia. (I did not pick a fruit from it.) It seems that chances are good it was one of these strawberry trees. I will have to pull out the picture I took and look at it closer!

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    1. My first though was also a lychee fruit but when I opened it, I knew that it wasn't the same thing. I bet that is what you saw in Orgosolo as well. It is always fun learn new things. :-)

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