Breakfast: Dutch pancakes with peanut butter and syrup
Clinic: I had two patients and I had a great unit at each, which had an ultrasonic. My second patient had never had his teeth cleaned and had a lot of staining and calculus, especially on his lower anteriors. I was so excited to show him the mirror afterward and to see his reaction. He was looking at his teeth in the mirror for about a half a minute and then in a thick accent said, "There is still a black spot." Not quite the response I was looking for. It made me laugh.
School: At 10:30, a group of us (Ashley, Katie, Rachael, Kari, Norma, Trey, and Dr. Greg)and I went to the local elementary school. When we arrived, all the kids in their green uniforms were playing outside. The building was a large wooden structure painted yellow. We walked upstairs to the 5th grade classroom to give a presentation. It was large room about half the size of clinic. They had wheelable chalkboards, wooden desks for two or three, and handmade posters on the wall. Nothing looked new. There were about 100 kids.
Dr. Greg spoke first about what teeth were, then Ashley talked about how to care for your teeth, then Katie talked about proper nutrition. Even though the kids were a little antsy, I think they all learned something. Dr. Greg ended with a magic trick and they were more captivated by it. I had such a good time. During the presentation, they got volunteers to do different things, like chew on disclosing tablets or brush the dinosaur's teeth.
Here is a video of the Guyanese boy brushing the dinosaur's teeth:
After the school we came back to Andy and Kathleen's for lunch and a half hour nap/free time. I'm so thankful to have a small break after working so much on very little sleep. For lunch we had beef tenderloin that we put in roti (a pita) with ranch, bok choy, and something else that was greenish and had curry.
On the way back to clinic there is a shack that is a dental office with a sign out front that says "Dental Works Done Here." The whole week we wanted to take a picture of it. Our driver stopped for us and let us get out to take pictures. As we were standing under it, we looked down and realized that I was standing in a big pile of green-brown cow poo on my white clinic shoes!
Clinic: I had a few more patients, but I don't remember how many. One of mine had the most tenacious sub-gingival black calculus that I have ever seen. I didn't know it could get that bad. I worked for about an hour and a half and had to quit. We were both tired and our group is aiming for an hour a patient.
I did an extraction today! Dr. Jeff and the dental student, Ian, had a lady with three teeth (#6, 7, and 8) that needed to be removed. He started it off and used a curet to sever the ligaments to loosen it up. My fist one was tooth #6 and I was so excited to try it. I took the pliers, grabbed the tooth, prepared to work at it a little, but it was so loose already that it just came out the moment I touched it. Ashley was ready to take pictures and a video, but we were laughing because nothing exciting happened. Then they wanted me to try #8. He loosened it up at first. I grabbed it with the pliers and bent it toward the nose, then the hard palate, then it was ready to come out. I couldn't believe I did it.
Here is a video of me doing an extraction:
Leave the clinic: 8:30 pm! It was so early and I loved it. We came back and had dinner (mac and cheese- yum!) and talked about our day. Then we watched a NOOMA video and had a meeting. I am so incredibly exhausted.
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