Tooth Update

If you don't know the full tooth story I suggest that you go back to the previous blog entry and catch up.

Where we left off: the dentist has prescribed me toothpaste for what is most likely in my mind a cracked tooth.

Moving on: Guess what? The toothpaste does take care of the sensitivity to hot and cold, but not the general ache that takes place at least once a day more often while eating. So I call the doctor again and explain the situation. They tell me that they want me to come down to Cotonou, which I knew was going to happen. So I go down.

On the 7 hour ride down I was sitting next to this man who was riding in the first motor vehicle of his life or he had taken speed before getting on the bus. The entire way this man wouldn't stop moving. He was worse than some kids with severe ADHD I used to babysit. At one point he stood up in his seat (not in the aisle but the window seat) while the bus was moving, opened the window and stuck his head out. Nobody but me seemed to think that this was odd behavior. When we got down to Cotonou this man also wanted to get off the bus while it was moving. Regardless, I make it down.

I go to the same dentist that prescribed me toothpaste and he looks at my tooth again and actually says "hm.... so you might have a crack in there' Finally! Someone believes me! He then points to the tooth in question on the x-ray which he's pulled up and says "This is the tooth with the problem" Exactly what I've been saying this entire time. And then he goes on to say "If you weren't a Peace Corps Volunteer I would give you a root canal right now, but because you are I'm going to prescribe you some antibiotics for this problem of yours" I tell him that he should write to my doctor that he would have given me a root canal so that my doctor knows that.

I then go speak to the doctor. In Peace Corps you have to go through the doctors for anything medical. Any and all medical attention gets filtered through them. If your cut gets infected, it goes through them, if you need to have your ears flushed out it goes through them, if you break you arm, it goes through them, and if you hurt your teeth, it goes through them. There are no nurses in Peace Corps Benin only two doctors. So consequently these two doctors are busy on a constant basis. The doctor says that if I need a root canal I will be medically evacuated to Dakar, Senegal. But first because the dentist isn't 100% sure that I need one, I need to get a second opinion.

I go to the other dentist in town. He pokes and prods my tooth, takes x-rays (the quality on these were much better than the first ones) and scratches his chin and says "Well I don't see a crack" here we go again... He then says "I'm going to prescribe you an anti-inflammatory and we'll see how it goes from there." I think to myself, OK not a problem he has given his professional opinion and now the only thing I can do is just play along. I go back to the doctor and they explain that the decision to medically evacuate me rests with the Washington DC office. In order to get authorization to go they need the second dentist to make some sort of written comment about the tooth in question.

To the dentist I go again... When I arrive he's not even there, he shows up an hour late and takes an excessively long time dealing with both the patients before me. During this close to two hour wait I had a Beninese moment. I fell asleep while sitting on the couch in a room full of people. My abilities to sleep just about anywhere are getting better, I think it's the long taxi rides full of goats and screaming children. I woke up to find that the receptionist was sleeping too. Ha ha, I'm more Beninese by the day. When I do finally get into the office I ask if he spoke to my doctor and he says that he did, and he also says that he understands what they want. Good, no need for a complicated discussion in French that I don't have the vocabulary for. I sit down in the chair, and he takes a look at my tooth. Grunts at it. And then he takes the hook-like tool and begins to shove it into my tooth. which of course, causes pain. He then lets go of the tooth which is shoved so far into my tooth that it's sticking straight up out of my mouth and says "Look there is no crack." I'm sitting in a dentist chair with a tool stuck into my tooth and you're telling me that there is nothing wrong! I'm in pain you idiot get this thing out of my mouth right now! So he yanks it out. He then says to me, you have a cavity in that tooth actually and I'm going to drill it out now. At this point he's freaking me out enough and I'm not letting this man anywhere near my mouth with a drill only to play around with my teeth. I tell him this probably slightly more forcefully than what I should have and he gets offended. "But it's a simple procedure, then you will stop having pain." I then explain that what I really want is for him to write it down so that I can get authorization from the doctors. He then says "OK, but I'm prescribing you a full mouth x-ray" fine, just so long as you stay very far away from my mouth, in fact any part of body, with your dentist tools.

So I leave the a dentists office for the third time in a week and go back and speak to the doctor. This is where the story gets left off. The information is apparently sent to Washington, where Washington will either approve or not approve to send me for more dental treatment in Dakar, Senegal. So I may or may not be going to Dakar. My tooth still aches on a daily basis. I will know more in a few weeks. I'll keep you all posted on this soap opera of a medical case. At least I've convinced one dentist there is a problem.