[lastpaige]

My husband is a native Pole, and every dentist he sees here takes one look in his mouth and says, "Where, in eastern Europe, did you grow up?"

When we met our sons, it was the same thing, one complaining of aches in his mouth. We took one look at the brown pits in his teeth and about fell over - annoyed with the same thought process that you had. One of the ladies who worked at the orphanage said that they do nothing until there is pain because it’s so expensive, and even then it takes a long time to get an appointment. We bought some Oragel (sp?) at the pharmacy and I kept it in my purse. (It wasn’t ideal, but it held us over until we got home.)

Two days later, once the boys were with us 24/7, we got to see their washing up routines. At night it consisted of using the toilet. No washing of hands or face, no care of teeth. In the morning it consisted of using the toilet, putting a barely visible amount of toothpaste on the brush, then shoving the brush once to the left of the mouth, and once to the right. We immediately began shoring up this lacking area.

Later, when talking with some family there, they told us that they wait for almost a year to get into the dentist, and that we could buy our way into an appointment if we had to, especially since we had US dollars (which were still worth something then). We talked to our driver about it and he said to try to hold off until we got back to the states, as children are not always properly anesthetized for dental work. Nice!

Once home, our first stop was the dentist. One of the boys had 5 teeth pulled and one cavity filled, and the other had one tooth pulled and 5 cavities filled. Both are now master teeth brushers. Having seen the brown decaying yick that came out of their mouths, they’re motivated to not experience that again!

Is it right? No. But nor can we change it. We can only warn others to be ready, and have dental appointments waiting for them upon arrival home.