Day 2 First day of clinic.......'Back in the Saddle Again'

As mentioned, the clinic is a nice 3 chair modern clinic.  The 2 assistants bring each patient in, determine their chief complaint, typically take an x-ray then talk to Gloria or me about treatment.  Today, we saw 22 patients, 15 extractions, 6 fillings, one cleaning.  

Really a first class clinic for such an isolated location on the Maasai Mara.  The clinic is
right inside the waiting area.  The two-story portion includes our apartment upstairs and on
the first floor, William, the manager's apartment, a small en-suite room for two people, and
a changing room/rest area for staff.  Very nice.

After our 2017 adventure when I was pulling teeth that I would NEVER remove in the states, but refer to an oral and maxillofacial surgeon.  I swore that this time, I would be more judicious, with less stress and insist that the patient with a tooth that needs a specialist to see one in Narok, 3 hours away.  Weeeeelllllll, when someone walks for a day to get to the clinic and has no way of getting to Narok, I tackled teeth with a 'wing and a prayer, emphasis on prayer.....successfully.  (And, I found out Narok doesn't have an oral surgeon anyway).

Also, another reason I will tackle the tough extractions I swear I wasn't going to:  Someone came in during the afternoon to have a lower molar extracted.  She is 6 months pregnant and in a lot of pain.  As I looked in her mouth, the tooth she wanted extracted already had the gums stirred up around it.  Through Grace, my assistant and interpreter, I learned that the patient had seen someone in her village earlier in the day to have the tooth removed and he was unsuccessful.  I asked about the dentist, but she corrected me and told me that he wasn't a dentist and he didn't numb the tooth before trying to unsuccessfully remove it......OK, I guess the buck stops here.

This gal was my favorite of the day.  She needed a molar removed.  Grace told her
to smile for the camera.  This was her best attempt since she was numb.

She was a very stylish Maasai woman.  She let Gloria take several pictures of
her very classy ears and earrings.