5th Trip to the Dentist

Today is our 5th trip to the dentist. It seems like we ended up with 3 root canals, 1 pulled tooth, and maybe 15 cavities for the 3 boys. It's interesting, the dentist never really tells me the total damage. He picks the big issues and works that one and tells us to come back. I try to get a list of exactly what the issues are and how many more return trips but they don't really seem to work that way.... The good news is the boys are out of pain! We still have many more trips to complete all of the work but now we can do it slowly and when they are on school break.

Trip to the dentist

For the root canals the dentist has all of these pins that he is using. They are stuck in the kids mouth and then the dentist sends us for x-rays. This means we have to leave the dentist office and take either a motorbike or a matatu to the hospital to get the x-ray and then return to the dentist for more work. Seems a bit dangerous  to be running around with pins sticking out of their tooth but I guess there really isn't another option.

The downside of the one pulled tooth is that boy wanted to join the army or become a police officer, but a requirement for both army and police is that you must have all of your teeth.... so he will have to choose another career.

I am now working on prevention with the other kids! I am trying to teach them to brush and floss every day and am making sure they have toothbrushes and toothpaste. However, I can't find dental floss here in Nyeri. If you are interested in sending some it would be a great help!

Sheila Murphy
PO Box 64
Endarasha Kenya 10107