another mueller dentist adventure...

Do you all remember the story about how I lost a cavity filling the day after we arrived in PNG (the land of hardly ANY dental care)??  If you don't know that story, please read this blog post because it's a good one!

Well, we are beginning to see that it might be better for our family to just get false teeth (actually, that thought has crossed my mind--for my own mouth that is!  If you could all see inside my mouth, you would see probably 40 or so cavity fillings...it's safe to say I have weak teeth!  Wouldn't it be easier if I didn't have to worry about cavities anymore?  Lol, I'm only sort of kidding...)

Well, poor Kaine has inherited my kind of teeth.  He has had quite a few dental problems in his short life.  And the other day, as he was eating granola...all of the sudden he said, "mom, I feel something in my tooth.  It feels like a HOLE."

Well, this made my heart sink.  Why?  Because we aren't in America anymore.  If we have teeth problems, we can't call a dentist to get it fixed.  Because there ARE NO dentists!  (at least not easily accessible!)  

**side note--if you are a dentist, please check out the end of this blogpost for an opportunity to serve short term here in PNG!!

So yep, I looked in his mouth and saw a hole all right.  Actually, it looked like he lost a filling (like mother, like son!)

Okay, so what are our dental options in this case?

1.  Leave it.  It's a baby tooth, right?  So eventually it will fall out?
2.  Wait a few weeks until it starts giving him problems...then figure something out.
3. There is an SIL (Wycliffe) dentist up here in the highlands--but it usually takes quite a few weeks for New Tribers to get an appt with him...and our family is supposed to fly to Wewak (the NTM base in the Sepik region) on Tuesday!  

Sigh.  There really aren't any great options, huh?  

We had the New Tribes doctor (not a dentist, but still a medical professional!) look at Kaine's tooth.  He strongly suggested we don't go with option #1, because it was a deep hole and could really cause problems.  So we scratched that option. And thankfully, we are already up here in the highlands.  So we are somewhat close to that SIL dentist...so option #3 seemed like the way to go, even though it might delay our flight to Wewak :(

I emailed the SIL dentist ASAP, and explained the situation.  And we started praying!

Well, God is just so good to us.  We absolutely do NOT deserve His amazing grace...

The SIL dentist emailed me back a few hours later, and said he could see Kaine the VERY NEXT DAY.  We found out from quite a few people that this was a miracle in itself!  Amazing!

Now, to figure out how he would get there.  Nathan could take a New Tribes vehicle and drive him there, but it is about a 2 hour drive in some of the worst driving conditions you can imagine.  Really, the potholes in this country are ridiculous!  Not to mention, Nathan does not know this highlands area at all--and really, we are still newbies to PNG!  Still learning about how to live here!

Well, we asked NTMA (New Tribes Mission Aviation) about the possibility of Nathan and Kaine flying to the SIL dentist...this was a long shot though.  But again, we were amazed.  They said that they were already planning to go up there the next day--they would be doing some training flights, and they would be glad to take Nathan and Kaine!  And...it would be CHEAPER than driving!  Ha!  God blows our minds sometimes!

So basically, Kaine got shuttled to his dentist appointment by private plane.  The experiences that this kid is getting...just wow.  

That's the end of Kaine's dentist adventure!  Thank you, Jesus!  Now, we are really hoping there won't be any sequels to the Mueller Family Dentist Adventures!

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Now.  Here is an opportunity I want to share with you all...

In the past, NTM had a dentist here at Lapilo Center.  And we have been told that the dentist was VERY BUSY--just taking care of the missionaries and their dental needs!  

But now, there is no dentist.  However.  There is a fully stocked (pretty much) and ready to go dental clinic here on base!  Just sitting there!  So if there would just happen to be a dentist who would want to serve overseas short term...what a great opportunity!  

That's all I will say.  No pressure!  I just thought it wouldn't hurt to mention it :)

We love you all!  Thanks for your prayers!