Sunday, July 28, 2013

Days 9,10, & 11: 100,000 Toothbrushes?? Yes, please!

Day 9:
Today was the first full day at the friary and the local tribe had a beautiful welcoming with songs and smiles that left us with tears in our eyes. Goretti rang the breakfast bell and we all trotted along to a great traditional meal, cereal and coffee. With so many supplies, we spent a few hours working as Ugandan pharmacists counting Tylenol, Ibuprofen, Penicillin, and Clindamycin thanks to Dr. Farmer’s amazing donation!

Setting up for our first clinic got us all really excited for the week to come. We saw about 20 patients doing various scaling, fillings, extractions and oral hygiene instruction. It was a long day, but with help from the friars, it went by smoothly. As a “trial day”, we went a little slower trying to get the flow and perfecting the process. We can knock “making friends with the local children” off of our Kakooge list.

Ending the night with a barbeque outside with the friars made our bellies ache from laughter. Words can’t even describe how funny and kind these men are. Some did the worm on the floor, Astin and Stephanie performed with plastic cups while Steph sang, and we heard some music from the friars’ native country of Poland. Marion brought out THE DOG… we were expecting something that looked a lot like a bear. Between telling the most animated stories, jokes, and dancing under the stars, we definitely hit the bed a little harder. Tomorrow we go to Kitanda. Nighty night!


Days 10 & 11: We spent our first clinic days outside of Kakooge in small villages called Kitanda (Chi-tawn-duh) and Mitanzi (Mi-tan-zi)...yeah, we still have a hard time figuring out the right way to say them. Getting our dental mojo flowing, we were able to help so many people who had been in oral pain for years. We treated ages 2 all the way to 80. From 9am to 6pm it was hard work, but we always seem to have fun at the same time with this hilarious group. Our doctors, Ashton and Mikie, definitely were super dentists and taught us so much as we worked. They always came in to save the day (aka screaming children and root tips). Right before our clinic in Mitanzi, we stopped by a small primary school on the way to teach oral hygiene to the children. Our translators, Francis and Godfrey, also showed us the twig, called Miswak, that some people used to brush their teeth. As adorable as the children already were, holding up the tooth brushes we gave them with big smiles made them ten times more adorable. Receiving so much gratitude from everyone made us realize how one person can truly make a difference in the world. Even if the child screams in our ear for 30 minutes or we get the occasional bitten finger, we know it makes a difference. Good side note: It isn't "mosquito season"! (Don't worry, we're still poppin' that Malarone every day though).
Gerard and Bennedict helping out with sterilization and screening of patients
Packing up after clinic
Bull City!
Oral hygiene instruction at a local primary school
One of our translators, Godfrey, showing us the sticks that are used as toothbrushes
Goofballs

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Days 7 & 8: Weraba, Kampala!

WARNING: Some photos may be graphic. Those with a weak stomach should scroll through them quickly.
Day 7:
Our last day at Mulago Hospital and Makerere Dental School came too soon. The second group, Marc, Leilah, Stephanie, and Astin, had their turn in Oral Surgery Theatre where they got to see a neurofibroma, hematoma, and ameloblastoma with part of the mandible removed.
The second group in oral surgery theatre
Starting a new trend with scrubs
An ameloblastoma and part of the mandible removed
Leilah examining an x-ray
We really enjoyed oral surgery

In the dental clinic, Jenn and Bianca explained the purpose and use of a rubber dam to seven dental students and demonstrated with a typodont and patients. They went around and helped all the students during treatment. A lot of the students were doing root canals, so Jenn and Bianca helped guide them to the proper use of single tooth isolation while assisting them in the procedure. Dr. Butler also assisted in root canals and demonstrated some of the local anesthesia techniques that she discussed in her lecture the day before (see Day 6).
Bianca demonstrating how to use a rubber dam
Jenn working on a patient in the dental clinic


After lunch, we had our second Lugandan language course and focused specifically on dental terms that we would be using in Kakooge at the clinics. After the course, we said our final goodbyes to all of the wonderful Makerere faculty and staff who have been so generous and kind while we were in Kampala.

This week we have gotten close with some of the dental students and oral surgery residents and instructors, so we set a goodbye dinner date at a popular Chinese restaurant. They had stayed at the hospital in oral surgery theatre all day up to the point where they went straight from the hospital to dinner at 7:30pm. Over a few spills thanks to the lazy Susan and great conversation, the oral surgery team took us out for a night on the town! It was a night to remember and our hugs goodbye didn’t last long enough. We all wish that we weren’t separated from our Ugandan friends by an entire ocean.
Team Uganda!! ♥
Day 8:
Our pal, Sam, met us in the morning to show us around the craft fair aka “bargaining galore”. We can’t wait to show our family and friends the surprises we got, thanks to our bargaining training in Uganda. We came home to our house host, Maragaret, wearing an extravagant ensemble because she had just returned from a wedding.
The craft fair
Margaret and her family coming home from a family wedding

We packed up our excessive amount of bags and hit the road to Kakooge with a quick pit stop at Matuuga friary. We were greeted by the kind friars with fresh spread for lunch that included Matooka, a traditional Ugandan food, fruit, rice, beans and casava. We had an early wake up call at 10:30pm to the sound of the friary’s ginger kitten in pain. Their German Shepherd guard dog reminded us of the crazy dog from The Sandlot. They call him Meeska, when they should really call him Cujo. We thought the friars were joking around when they said they had to go buy kittens every Saturday. We lost a kitten tonight and knew exactly how it went down with Astin as a witness, who might be scarred for life.
Our Ugandan meal at the friary
Too many supplies? Never!

Friday, July 19, 2013

Days 5 and 6: The Whole Team United!

Day 5:
Today we woke up early because some of us were headed to Oral Surgery Theatre! Half of the group went to the theatre in the hospital and the other group went to dental clincs. The theatre is basically an operation groom at the hospital where an oral and maxilla facial surgeon assisted by two dental interns extracted an ameloblastoma on the posterior right mandible of a woman in her thirties. Ashton, Bianca, Jennifer and Astin watched the surgery after they had to remove everything head to toe and suit up in hospital boots, scrubs, and hairnets. The other group, Marc, Stephanie, and Leilah headed to the general dental clinics and watched perio residents, including some pedo patients. The diagnosis and treatment planning are actually very similar to what we do at UNC, minus a few exceptions.Lunchtime came, and boy were we hungry. We were thrilled to discover among a seemingly modest gas station, there was the jewel of Kampala, Cafe Javas. Marc indulged himself in a brownie sundae, Leilah, Astin and Jennifer enjoyed a chocolate milkshake and the food was great. To top it all off, FREE WIFI!!

Astin, Jenn, and Bianca suited up for Oral Surgery


Everyone excited to get some Wifi


Day 6:
Today was another eventful day at the Mulago Hospital! Some of our team got to do their oral surgery rotation. Was a hands on experience? Yes. Can we share details? YES. Leilah got to drain an abscess and Stephanie was able to anesthetize, biopsy a piece of tissue from a tumor, and suture (fully supervised of course). The other half went to the dental clinic and got to do some root canal treatments. Bianca did an intrapulpal injection and Jenn removed pulpal tissue. At lunch we randomly ran into a graduate from Chapel Hill! She is doing research in anthropology at Makerere and ended up coming to dinner with us. Right after lunch, Ashton taught her lecture on alternative injections and pregnancy considerations when treating patients. She did a fantastic job!! Five o’clock came and Dr. Farmer finally arrived. Now we have both our dentists with us and the entire team is finally together! We spent the night out to dinner with everyone and made our way back to the house to rest for a long, but last, day in Kampala.

A little fun with the kids in our rounds in the ward
On rounds in the ward
The beginning stages of Stephanie's biopsy
Ashton's lecture to a crowded room full of Uganda students and faculty. She did a great job!
We finally have both of our dentists!
Bianca, Astin, Stephanie, and Jenn at dinner