Dentist

I have always been a little unsure about going to the dentist here, but it has been about a year and a half since I've seen any dentist so I thought I should at least have a checkup.  Plus, Ewa and Gary went and said that it was a good set up so I decided to go.  I have to admit it went really well.  Once he pulled out all of my teeth with a rusty pair of pliers, he hooked me up with an excellent set of wooden dentures.  The splinters are kind of a pain, but over all they are functional and a pretty good look for me...Alright, so it wasn't that bad.  The Italian mission across town have set up a few clinics: General, Heart, Vision, and Dental.  The dental clinic was very well supplied with all of the modern dental equipment and the dentist seemed very capable.  Gary even recently entrusted him with a root canal which is alright so far.  As good as the dental practice was, it still had a few distinct Malawian qualities.  I walked up to the building a was greeted by a couple of guys sitting on the bench outside.  Just inside the door, I asked the receptionist if I could get a cleaning.  She gave me a confused look and yelled out the window to the guys on the bench.  One of them said "Sure, as soon as the mopping is finished."  So I went back outside and waited with who I now knew as the dentist.  After a few minutes, I was shown into a typical looking dental room including the chair, tools, sinks, cabinets, and even the radio playing in the background.  The dentist took a quick look at my teeth and found two small cavities (no x-ray required) that he could fill as long as I had time.  There was no dental hygenist so he went right on with the cleaning.  Somewhere in mid-cleaning his cell phone rang which he didn't hesitate to answer and make another appointment for tomorrow.  He also had a few short conversations with people passing by.  He moved right on to filling the cavities and since he didn't have an assistant, there were frequent trips to the cabinet and out of the room to get everything he needed.  After everything was finished, I waited while he put everything away.  He came back with the book and I paid my bill right there.  I was beginning to wonder why he even had the receptionist.  Everything went well and ended up paying 2300 Kwacha for everything (about 18 dollars).