Saturday 3rd June

PJ O'Rourke re the good old days:  Let me say one single word: dentistry.

He is so right!  The islander people we met on our trip were for the most part extremely good looking.  Genetically gifted, in fact.  On remote Budi-Budi, far-flung in the Louisiades, most of the people could have been movie stars, with their beautiful cheekbones, tawny thick hair, flashing eyes.  But…as soon as they get to their twenties…their teeth rot and start to fall out.  (I won’t go into a gory description of betelnut and its contribution to dental decay…too yucky a topic, really.)  But I was often moved to think of P J O’Rourke… We, in Australia, are so lucky to have modern dentistry!  I am sure that if I lived in a remote islander community I would now be a toothless old hag… Instead I have most of my very own teeth, give or take the odd long-lost molar and more than one or two fillings.  And I expect to keep them forever.

Friday morning at dawn’s early light I went to my own dentist for a check-up, a cut & polish, and a fluoride treatment.  My dentist, Fiona, is a beautiful, kindly young woman.  When it was all over and I stepped out, crossed the road, and went to sit in my (freezing!!) office feeling very happy with the experience.  It was not ever thus… People of my generation all have horror stories of terrifying noisy drills, unkind shouty dentists, pain and misery.  We should all be extremely grateful that times have changed and that dentistry is so much better in every respect.

As I lay back in my comfy chair I did spare a thought for poor Sanity, on Bagaman Island in the Louisiades.  I am not sure how old Sanity is.  She looks about 99, but as her youngest child, Keith, is only twelve years old maybe she isn’t 99…. And why does she look 99?  Well because she has hardly any teeth left, and she is suffering dreadfully from an ulcer in her gums.  There is no chance at all of her getting any treatment for this.  Her son Moses paddled out in his canoe and asked if we had any medicine for her.  We felt so guilty because we hadn’t through to bring spare packs of antibiotics with us – we could have bought them over the counter in Vanuatu.  So we handed over some panadol and sent him on his way.  The next day he came back, beaming, to report that Sanity had slept all night happy and pain-free and that the huge swelling in her gum had receded!  We left a packet of magical drugs for her…I hope it was a miracle cure…