DENTAL REPAIRS IN PNG

2 March 2025

Now that the check in process had been completed my next priority was to find out if there was a dentist in Kavieng and if not where the nearest dentist could be found.  Enquiries with the locals didn’t reveal much, outside of the negative the best result I could get was “I could try the hospital, they may have a dentist”.  I found this surprising as Kavieng is not a big place, I assumed the locals would know if there was a dentist in town.  But, judging by the condition of the local’s teeth, they had most probably never seen a dentist. 

I attempted to visit the hospital but it had been temporarily closed down.  Apparently, a couple of nursing staff had been assaulted on their way home from work.  The hospital was closed down; the nursing staff were unhappy.  It took a couple of days to sort out the problem before it opened up for business again.  Finally, upon arriving at the hospital I was surprised and encouraged to see a hut with a “Dental Clinic” sign above the door. 

Upon entering the clinic I was met by a gentleman behind a desk, the receptionist I assumed.  I explained my problem to him, he came around the desk and had a look in my mouth.  Oh yes, he said, I can fix that, he led me to another room, sat me in the dental chair and said he would be back in a couple of minutes.  Now I had to assume that the receptionist was in fact the dentist even if he didn’t have a white coat on. 

Soon a nurse appeared and started preparing various tools and equipment, she was dressed like a nurse, all prim and proper.  The dental chair, side basin and furnishings had all seen better days, the chair didn’t adjust and there was no running water to rinse with.  I have a deep-rooted fear of dentists, mainly caused by a bad experience many years ago when a German butcher, masquerading as a dentist caused me to be hospitalised for weeks and eventually receive specialist treatment in the UK.  It’s a very long story.  I sat in the chair and weighed up my options, deciding to get the job done here and now – no time to be chicken.

Well, the dentist did a good job and plugged up the hole.  He was not gentle, he got the job done with the minimum of fuss.  The bill came to 20 Kina which is about 8 NZ$.  Good value.  My teeth all feel like they have been rearranged in my mouth, I suppose I will get used to that.

With my dental worries out of the way I could relax and explore Kavieng.  It’s a nice, relaxed place and the locals are all friendly and helpful.  Don’t know what it would be like after dark.  I had quite a large reprovisioning to do after my long trip from Baik and spent some time trolling around the local stores.  In these remoter towns you usually can’t get all the items you need from one store, it requires patience, scanning the shelves for desirable goods.  All the basic staple of life were available but the tasty and desirable tit bits were missing.  Looks like my diet is going to be quite boring for a while longer.

My next chore was to fill up my jerry cans with ninety liters of diesel.  I took the dinghy across the harbour to the market boat landing and carried the empty cans up to the gas station.  Once the cans were full they were loaded onto the fuel truck for drop off.  This is a brilliant system, the truck does a circuit dropping people and fuel off along the way – and its free.  I was dropped off at the dinghy with my jerry cans and was soon back at Truce loading the fuel on board. 

On the trip from Indonesia Truce has grown a nasty ring of slime and barnacles around the waterline, it looks disgusting.  I set to with a spray bottle of bleach, plastic scraper and scrubbing brush.  It took a few hours but the results are good.  The boat looks more like her old self from a distance.  My arms are not too happy, feeling like they will drop off.

Three young guys came into the anchorage on a catamaran they are delivering from Fiji to Indonesia.  One of them offered to go up the mast on Truce to fix the windex.  I accepted his offer immediately.  It turned out that the guy is a rigger and he also offered to inspect the rig top down.  Again, I eagerly accepted his offer.  The results of his inspection were positive, nothing untoward going on and I now have a volume of photos of the rig.

My time in Kavieng is coming to a close.  Its been a good stop.  I have fixed my teeth, refuelled, reprovisioned, repaired and relaxed.  Now I and ready to go again.  My plan is to sail over the north side of New Ireland and visit some of the outer islands before dropping down to Taro to clear into the Solomon Islands.  My big concern is the very strong and persistent current against me on that route together with the easterly wind that seems to be equally stubborn and persistent.  Hopefully, it will moderate in the next couple of days.