Mangled mouths

In Easter Sunday a few decades ago there was a swing incident on the playground at our church retreat in La Granja in which my four-year-old brother's two front teeth were knocked loose. After many dental visits to kind Dr. Thams and long time use of a hard-to-keep-track-of retainer, Andy survived and eventually his two front permanent teeth grew in the right place.

Please pray that my Saturday night ER patient's story would have the same happy ending!

That large naming ceremony i wrote about below was the scene of Ali's accident--somewhere off in the "parking lot" where the ox, donkey and horse carts were tied up. The adults didn't see what happened but there are versions of the story in which some kids had mischievously untied the carts. Basically, a horse that was spooked or chased or harassed kicked Ali square in the mouth. The men heard him crying and rushed him (ironically, by similar cart) to the health post which had already closed up. Then they dropped off a few men next door at the police station to make a report. Thankfully, the police didn't detain the boy for questioning as they are prone to do with trauma patients but rather sent him on to us. Teresa happened to be on her way into town so she was hailed by the cart loaded with good Samaritan party-goers and finally got a look in Ali's mouth in the clinic. She came to get me from my porch where my Saturday math club boys were just getting into a game of Rummikub. 

There was no parent present and no one knew how old he was or how many teeth he'd already lost. Now four or five of his lower front teeth were pushed back, dangling or sitting way back on his tongue in a mangled mess of smashed gums. One tooth was so loose it fell out in my hand when i pulled down his swollen lower lip to look. I washed his sandy, tear streaked face and we weighed him and gave him children's Tylenol. He cooperated beautifully while we rinsed his mutilated gums with salt water. We finally found out he is one of our guard's sons but this big man* was rather queasy and sat in shock without much help in regards to his son's dental history. It was our cassette-listening great-grandma's grandson who comforted, encouraged and translated it all for Ali. Then i had to decide what to do next as there was no way to get him to the dental clinic until the next morning. Ali was very brave until the dental block injection which is quite understandable! Once we got him to calmed down again, I was able to remove some tooth fragments & debris and try to figure out which teeth went where as it seems he was getting a permanent eye tooth in front of a baby tooth. I stitched the two loosest teeth into place. By now the clinic was hopping--curious party-goers, well-wisher staff, concerned family members, policemen and a few sneaky neighbors hoping to be seen next for their maladies! We started him on antibiotics and got all the paperwork ready. In all the excitement i completely forgot to get a picture of Ali but i should be able to follow his progress since we have so many connections. 

I was a sweaty mess after all that and i admit that i rather begrudgingly attended to the husband & wife asthmatic duo from next door. I'll save this asthma story for another time. 

*Carts have not been nice to our guard's family this week! On Friday morning I had to re-bandage his daughter's right thumb which was crushed by a cart.