PATIENT OF THE DAY IS SIONE O TUKOLO!  I had a little bit of time to talk with this patient today and he is amazing!  Dentally, he was in some pain with some teeth and needed a few teeth extracted.  I got him numb and then we had some time to talk.  He told me some amazing things that he's doing for his family and for some of the youth here in Tonga.  He said that growing up, he always heard that if you have the chance to get a good education, go and do it.  Growing up, he didn't have a very good opportunity, but his kids had the opportunity.  When they got a scholarship to be able to attend College in Utah, he picked his family up, and moved to Utah to give them a better College education.  He has 5 kids and all of them have degrees from US Colleges.  His daughter has her PHD and is teaching at the University of Utah.  I asked him why he was in Tonga and not with his family over in Utah.  He said that he came here for a few months to help out the youth in Tonga.  I asked him what he's doing with the youth.  He said that he bought a tractor and helps to plow some of the fields here in Tonga to have the kids plant crops to sell.  They take the money they earn from the crops and pay for their school here in Tonga.  He is helping out 52 kids get an education by providing them work on a farm to earn money for school.   He also said that he was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer a couple years ago.  He was receiving treatment back in the US and was given only a year left to live.  He came back to Tonga and started drinking tea that is made from the FAO tree.  You take the bark from the FAO tree, crush it up and boil it in water and make a tea.  I drank that for a period of 6 months and went back to the states.  He said that he is cancer free.  He said that the tea helped to cure him.  I guess this tree has some healing properties that the Tongans use for certain diseases.  It makes one wonder how many cures are out there that we can get from natural resources.  He also told me that a company from Utah uses the Nanu plant's roots that they extract the juice from to cure certain diseases as well.  That's found here in Tonga.  The other product is the Tutu uli which is a good treatment for Hepatitis B.  I'm sure there are so many things that are out there that we haven't discovered yet.  Amazing!  He will be returning to America here in a couple of weeks.  What a fun guy to talk with.  He is making a difference in a great way with these kids. 

Today was "Pedo" day.  We saw a ton of kids.  I wish we had our nitrous oxide today.  Holy Cow!  We had to try to do some Rodeo Dentistry today!  These Tongan kids are tough kidos and handled it very well.  We have to try to educate the kids and their parents that they need to stop sucking on so much candy and drinking so much pop.  The kid's diet really stinks and their oral hygiene is lacking in a big way.  We're doing what we can to treat, but we are trying even harder to educate.

These are the bracelets that Makayla made for the kids here in Tonga.  The kids have enjoyed picking out their favorite ones.  We don't have a prize box, but we have something for them.  They seem to like them.  Makayla and the family made 200 of them for her Young Woman's Project.

Heidi was assisting me today.  She got herself all wet with the air-water syringe accidentally.  She got herself pretty good.  We had a good laugh about it.  It's fun for us to be working together.

Looking "Cool" in the chair.  

One thing I haven't done since Dental School that we are forced to do here is lab work.  Here, I am making a partial denture for a patient.  If patients are missing teeth, the only solution a lot of times is to build them what's called a "flipper" to replace some missing teeth.  We can't do bridges or implants here, so we make them partial dentures that replace the teeth, but they have to take them in and out.  The Tongans are so thankful for front teeth if we can make them for them.  It's the simple things!  :)

The family having fun with orange slices.  The kids love and eat a ton of oranges.