SCHOOL IS OUT FOR TODAY!  We thought we were going to do some school screenings today like we've been doing, but we found out that school is out.  Sooooo, we saw patients all day today until about 5:00.  We saw the Sister missionaries first.  We had a lot of work we had to do, and she was awesome!  We got her all taken care of.  These Sisters work so hard and are so amazing!  We are lucky to have such great missionaries here in Tonga!

This is some solution that I've heard about and read about, but a good friend from home (Sarah Coley) sent me an article about it that reminded me about it.  It was a blessing in disguise.  We actually found some of this solution here in the clinic.  Tonga is the perfect place to be using this.  Silver Diamine Fluoride is a solution that  is painted on the teeth and it stops the decay process.  It turns the tooth Black due to the silver ions in it, but it halts the decay process so we don't have to get the child numb, try to fix the tooth, and in some cases traumatize the child during the process.  It's a win-win.  If the parent is OK with the child's tooth being black, I think it's a good solution.  For baby teeth.  I'm not so sure someone wants a permanent tooth black.  :(  This is a great solution for a place like Tonga and for little kids that have so much decay.  I used it on a few patients today.  Thank you and a big shout out to Sarah Coley for putting the bug in the ear.  Thanks Sarah!  You have helped out the people of Tonga!  You never know when you are going to be of help to someone somewhere.

A picture of the little girl that we used the Silver Diamine Fluoride on.  The Tongan kids are SO cute!

The back teeth after application of the SDF.  See how black they are.  The magic is that the decay process is halted and she can still function until the permanent teeth are in (hopefully).  This product is just starting to be used in America (this last year or so).  

Picture of the bottom teeth after application of SDF.

This was a patient that fractured her two front teeth with a tether pole (sp?).  The pole came back and hit her front teeth and fractured them.  The tooth on the right had to have a root canal.  It was black.  I didn't have the materials I needed to mask it completely, but we did the best we could.  The post op (after) picture is down below.  The picture above is during the process of restoring the teeth.

After photo.  It was an improvement.  Not perfect, but the patient was excited and happy!

Logan and his cousin at the temple.  She is actually his 2nd cousin.  She is on a trip with the Humanitarian EFY (Especially For Youth) here in Tonga building homes and having a great time for two weeks.  Small World!  We are happy and proud of Mykel Hooley for her service and experiences!