Oral Surgery - Uganda Style!

When we came back from the internet cafe, and blogging, we got a phone call from Ben saying that our bags had FINALLY arrived! WAHOOOO! We ran down to the local grocery store (the designated meeting place), and waited eagerly as our driver opened his trunk to reveal our long awaited luggage......one bag. And it happened to be one with NONE of our clothes in it. -_-

After we finally recovered from our dissapointment, Ben took us, Ellie and Deria (the "white girls") out to a traditional Ugandan meal.  We had beef in a peanut sauce and chicken both slow-cooked in banana leaves since 5AM.  Ben made sure to get us "all the food" (arrow root, plantains, sweet potatoes, casa root, and rice) and even pineapple sodas to go along with.  It was very good but way too much food, we haven't developed an "african appetite" quite yet.

Us wondering WHAT we he was going to unwrap.

Chicken with all the foods.

The next morning we started the day with rounds in the hospital's oral surgery ward.  We checked on several patients recovering from surgery with Dr. Gonzaga and surgical interns.  We got to see some really intense injuries from gun shots, hammers, and dental abcesses as well as some incredibly progressed ameloblastomas and cysts related to dental infection.  When rounds were finished we grabbed coffee and bananas at the medical student Cantina and then headed to the oral surgery clinic. 



Katie drinking TONS of water.





Dan and Marc enjoying sugary Mt. Dew and Coffee



In the clinic, we worked with surgical interns and Dr. Gonzaga to extract teeth and biopsy several lesions. The clinic was very intense for us as it was most of our first encounters with trauma repair, and the lesions that we encountered were severely progressed.  Dr. Gonzaga made sure to explain things very thoroughly to us and let us examine each patient ourselves.  Dan even got to snip some sutures! The one case that stood out for us all, among all of the crazy things we got to see, was a four year old with a golf ball size cell carcinoma lesion on his cheek.  Since this is an invasive condition, they were planning to remove only the external growth and then move onto chemotherapy treatment. We also saw a 15 year old ameloblastoma on an elderly man that was about the size of pineapple!!!



Katie examining the15 y/o ameloblastoma



Marc examining an inflammed saliva gland

Dan & Katie attempting to come up with a diagnosis.

After grabbing fried "Ugandan meatloaf" (as described by the Ugandan dental students) for a quick lunch - not our favorite meal - we got to go to the computer lab and check out facebook while our hosts studied a little bit. We headed home to relax, stopping by the grocery store for some milk and oreos first, and then enjoyed the last night with out "house family" - we even got to see the Ugandan version of karaoke....which was a really awesome M.C,/lip syncing/performance contest and went to sleep....dreaming about the clean laundry in our luggage.

Marc homesick for WING STOP!

Nothing like oreos and a bag o' milk!!

Welcome to Uganda!

We made it!!! We arrived in Uganda around 8 AM on Tuesday morning (it is Wednesday for us now) withOUT our luggage.  We followed an entire FLIGHT who lost all of their luggage, so needless to say we waited at the Luggage Services office for quite some time.  A driver was awaiting our arrival and we took the hour long drive from Entebbe to Kampala and went straight to The Edge Guest House where we are staying.  The Guest House is similar to a hostel and we are staying with some amazing and helpful international students.  They have all been here for at least 2 weeks and are very comfortable getting themselves (and us) around the city.

As soon as we arrived, we changed into scrubs and a medical student came to give us a walking tour of the University.  Heavy scrubs may not have been the best idea, as it was very hot on our first day and Mulago Hospital is about a 25 minute walk from the Guest House - ALSO, people don't really wear scrubs here so we looked pretty ridiculous, a kid told Dan "you look WEIRD".  Kampala is a bustling city full of people - the hospital really reflects the level of need in the area and we are glad to be here to help.  Mulago Hospital is the largest public hospital in the country and patients are referred here from all over the place.

Dan, Katie & Marc in front of the Dental Clinic

We finally got to meet with our contacts - Susan, Annet, and various others and were introduced to a dental student, Ben, who took us for lunch with "the white girls" (the Swedish exchange students staying in our house) at the student cafeteria.  They were serving local foods - rice, beans, and posho-a local cornmeal style starch...for 200 Uganda Shillings, which is about....8 US cents.  We have been called "muzungu" millions of times (which means "white" and/or "someone who roams around aimlessly") and the little girls are loving Katie and her blonde hair. After our tour, we got to take a nap and then decided we needed to wake up and mingle with the housemates.  They took us out to eat at a great Italian restaurant, negotiated our cab fare, and introduced us to Kampala in the evening.



Dan, Dr. Annett Kutesa, & Marc



This morning we got our first taste of the dental clinic.  We sat in on a group-style Perio discussion (very similar to what we had in class this summer but less chaotic and detailed) focused on the effects of nicotine/tobacco.  Then we attended the Perio clinic and each got to see patients - some with mild sensitivity, and some with VERY VERY extreme perio needs who were there for extractions.  We loved the openness of their clinic and the group involvement during presentation and discussion of patients. 

The dental students took us to lunch after clinic at the student cafeteria again, and today we got to try the pineapple and avocado - DELICIOUS!  We are heading back to our house and might explore the city a little on the way back. 



Dan & Katie with 2 Final Year Dental Students in the cafeteria.



The Incredible Journey



Marc, Katie, Dan & a car FULL of luggage.


After much confusion, many delays, lots of layovers, and eating goldfish/pretzels for dinner - we have officially left the country!!! Instead of our original plans to have a layover in Cairo, we ended up coming through London - excited that we would be able to have time to do some sightseeing and check out some of Olympic Park, we welcomed this change!  Unfortunately - our 11PM flight remained on the runway until 3AM and we don't have quite enough time to make it to the city center.  We made the best of the situation, checked into a hotel for some showers and pillows, and stopped by a local pub for some DELICIOUS fish & chips and cider.

Our little corner of London

 We are looking forward to waking up in Uganda tomorrow morning, checking out our hotel there and getting started with a tour of the facilities at Makerere Universty at noon. At this point, our only concern is WILL OUR BAGS (full of dental supplies/socks/bug spray) MAKE IT TO UGANDA!?! Check back later in the week to find out!

We are getting incredibly excited for our trip to Uganda!  We leave in just 10 days, and it feels like that cannot come soon enough.  We are eager to arrive in Uganda and meet all of the wonderful people we have been in contact without through this last semester.  To give you a more in-depth idea as to what we will be doing on our trip - here is our itinerary:

We will arrive in Kampala, Uganda on July 17th EARLY in the morning, have a few minutes to refresh and collect ourselves after a long journey (complete with an almost 10 hour lay-over in Cairo) and then head to Makerere University's College of Health Sciences.  We will be paired with senior dental students and will work/shadow in their student clinics.  On Friday, we will be joined by UNC adjunct faculty member, Dr. Mikie Farmer (pictured below with the team), he will give a lecture to the faculty and students at Makerere University on a variety of exciting subjects (dental decay in relation to heart disease, injection methods, aesthetic dentistry, etc). 

On Saturday morning, we will be met by the Friars of the Greyfriars Mission Uganda, who will drive with us to Kakooge in the Nakasongola District.  We will have Sunday to recover from our travels and get acquainted and prepared - and on Monday we will travel to our first village to provide oral hygeine education and supplies, get an idea of the dental problems that are most prominent for those in the Nakasongola district, and provide care to as many children and families as possible.  We will spend the next few days doing the same in several surrounding villages.  The Uganda Dental Association has even been so welcoming as to send additional dentists and dental students to help us during this week!

Later in the week, we will head back to Kampala and surrounding areas to do some sightseeing, volunteer with other organizations, and hopefully make a visit to the US Embassy who's ambassador is a UNC graduate! 

It is hard for all of us to comprehend how close the trip is - we have spent so much time, and effort planning, fundraising and establishing connections between UNC and our contacts in Uganda.  Below are some images from one of our fundraising events at the North Carolina Dental Society meeting this semester. 



Our Fundraising Table - we still have shirts for sale! :)



The Team:  Marc, Dan, Katie, and Dr. Farmer

We will do our best to update this blog as often as possible during our trip and after.  Our goal is to make this outreach program a huge success that continues on at UNC long after we graduate and are able to attend as dentists like Dr. Farmer has done for us!  With the dentist to patient ratio in Uganda being 1:165,000 and access to care being incredibly low - we want to provide as much education and relief as possible and help make a change in future. 

Thank you to those of you who have supported, and continue to support our efforts- this would truly not be possible with you!  If you are interested in learning more about the trip, please email khpayne@dentistry.unc.edu!  If you would like to purchase a T-Shirt or make a monetary donation - use the links on the right!