How’s Africa? – A Trip to the Dentist

The only trampoline accident we’ve ever had (thank God!) wasn’t long after we got to Africa and set the thing up in our yard. The kids went quickly from normal jumping to trying crazy tricks.

To this day, I get mixed reports of what actually happened that afternoon. As I understand it, the kids were trying a variety of flips — backflips, front flips, cartwheels. Jamie didn’t quite complete the flip. His mouth hit his knee and he broke off his permanent front tooth.

At the time, we had a dentist in town who could do simple things like cleanings and basic fillings. He was able to put a temporary polymer in place on the broken tooth, and build it back to its normal size, permanent enough to last until Jamie could grow up and get a crown put on. The dentist also told us the temporary measure would only last until Jamie was 17 or 18.

Right on cue, last fall the temporary polymer started having trouble. We knew it was only a matter of time until it fell off completely. Trouble was, the only dentist we knew of who could do the crown was in Kampala, 4 1/2 hours away.

Around that time, we heard of a new dental office in town, about a half mile from our house. We heard it was clean and that the dentist was skilled. We decided to look into it.

I’m so thankful we found out about Trust Dental. The office staff is wonderful. Dr. Ibra is a complete professional. We’ve been in there so much over the last couple months that they recently told us we need to be sure to keep in touch when all of our dental stuff is finished. Hah! 😀 

We were all able to get cleanings. (No cavities! Yay!) They used 3D printing technology to make Jamie’s crown and put it on in the office. They removed 4 sets of wisdom teeth from us. They can also do orthodontia and bridges — though I sincerely hope it never comes to that!

They needed an x-ray of Jamie’s front tooth, which they took right in the office. I’m pretty sure Alex needed a lead vest for protection, too. The imaging center they used for all of our wisdom teeth x-rays was a lot better shielded for the technician, too.

They went out of their way to make sure the younger kids were comfortable with the whole experience and not frightened or in pain, including letting Brennah be the assistant for the day.

Best of all, knowing I was going to have a challenging wisdom tooth extraction, Dr. Ibra and his staff stopped and prayed with me before we began. Shiba, one of his assistants, prayed for me during the procedure when I was having a hard time.

My dental experience in the states was never this good. I think I’d rather see my dentist in Africa.