I had my first tooth pulled yesterday. The experience was much less painful than I feared after hearing many horror stories about wisdom teeth and about Japanese dentists. In fact, it was not painful at all, just a little uncomfortable afterwards. All seems well now, although I have not tried to eat real food again yet.

The language problem also turned out to be a non-issue. I selected the dentist I went to based on the service directory's assertion that he speaks English, which turned out to be incorrect: he just offered to call his wife on the phone to act as a translator. But that was not necessary, so my Japanese is maybe getting better. On a related note, he could say after meals in German.