LITTLE GIRLS NEED TO SMILE!

Every place I have been in the third world is always the same. Maybe it doesn’t happen on the first day, maybe it does. But sometime in the week at least one little girl comes into the clinic with an abscessed front tooth and all I can do is extract it or put them on antibiotics and put off the inevitable removal. The thought of their missing front tooth for the rest of their life haunts me!
It happened on the first day this time on the Mekong. She was 12. Her name was Theary. She wanted what they all want. To keep her front tooth and somehow make it look new again so she could smile like all little girls need to do. Thanks to the Ship of Life dental clinic and it’s well equipped operatory, this time was different. I asked her to wait until the end of the morning and let everyone go first. I knew it would take some time to do the root canal and the extensive restoration. My wide eyed assistant TiRah stayed by my side through one half of our lunch hour but we finished and the look on her face when I gave her the mirror was worth the effort. She beamed and the look on her face said, “I don’t know how you did that but I am thankful for my new smile!”
I’ve been waiting for this day for some time now. I did the same thing the next day for a sixteen year old boy and a 13 year old girl. This is going to be fun!

Friday was Gail’s birthday (50th!) and today is mine (40th!) Just kidding…I’m 41, or is it 51? Memory is fading fast! haha I didn’t kid Gail too much about being old. None of you did either that I know of. Maybe later, huh? It is also income tax day. Sure hope my accountant filed for an extension!