To Be Completed

Due to the rather energetic demonstration of the difference in tackling in Rugby Union and American Football and a glass beer bottle, I was missing a front tooth. This was not a pleasant situation, especially in the quality dentist desert that is Rwanda. The tooth had cracked through middle of the front, up through the tooth, and below the gum line at the back. The was bent back and hiding in my mouth; shrouded in blood.

The frantic moments after the incident gave way to a calmer more measured response. We went to Pineda in Kigali the next day. As it was a Sunday a lot of coaxing was required to reach the junior dentist inside. He recommend we wait and see what happens… (a refrain that I heard many times from the dentists at Pineda). As we waited the tooth fragment became looser and looser and two weeks later.

Back to Pineda: tooth broken below the gum line, Implant required, US$ 2000, take 9 months, no one in Rwanda can do it! This meant we had to cast our eyes abroad and all our local medical insurance had been used up. UK? Kenya? South Africa? India? Thailand? Well, one of our friends came up with Dr Tom in Kampala. After a few emails, two weeks later we were setting of to Kampala…

After Arriving at the Uganda Wildlife Education Centre….

Finally a new tooth was made!