Open wide

Well, I’ve just experienced Malawian dentistry at its finest! I broke a tooth on a stone that was hiding in my rice on Friday night, huge chunk just snapped right off. I spent all weekend worrying the bit left with my tongue.

This morning, with a little trepidation, I phoned up the dentist for an appointment. It all went fine – even the nasty little syringe and whining drill wasn’t too bad! I was more concerned about the fly that was buzzing about in case it flew into my numbed, cavernous mouth but luckily the dental nurse was ferociously jabbing the sucky thing in and out so it would have been hoovered up quick smart!

Its only a temporary fix, the proper cap or whatever its called will be ready in a month (is he going to spend his evenings whittling it down from a piece of something else?) so I get to go back and have it done all over again – damn that rice dish – I’ll be searching among the grains more carefully from now on.