Chipped tooth: dental care in The Gambia

One of the least fun things about being me is my dental history. I've had just about every dental procedure imaginable, multiple times over. On the bright side, I've had the good fortune to be posted in several countries where dental care is not only affordable but also unexpectedly high quality. In fact, countries like Armenia and India are  'dental tourism' destinations!

But The Gambia is a little different. Nobody comes here for the dental care, or any kind of medical care for that matter. The motto is: just try not to get hurt in The Gambia. It's a little unnerving to think what I would do with a serious medical issue, especially if involved my kids. I try to not think about it too often.

A chipped front tooth isn't exactly an emergency though. It's just an annoying problem that weighs heavily on people who are vain (me in the past) and people who are relentlessly mocked by their children for physical flaws (me currently). So I had to get this tooth fixed pronto.

Turns out there are some excellent dentists here, for some reason mostly female, and I had no problem getting a same-day appointment. She did a fantastic job, which I especially appreciated given that she had no assistant and seemed to be about eight months pregnant. 

Based on this experience with this dental practice, called Clinica, and my kids going there as well, I'm happy to report that there is decent dental care in The Gambia. You probably can't get dental surgery, and they don't have the equipment/supply lines to do implants yet, but everything else including crowns can be done here. The clinic I went to is apparently 20 years old and looks like any regular dental practice I might find at home.