Does an apple a day keep the dentist away

Ever had tooth problems? not very pleasant at all. Seeing a dentist every so often is not a luxury that we have, we, being 'those in Africa' (majority). You get tooth problems, gurgle salty warm water until the tooth and nature takes its cause. Either that or you just do away with the tooth. When as a kid your teeth start growing crookedly, you just don't have time to notice or care to find out what the outcome will be once you mature, because getting braces is something rich kids/people do. Which goes to show that our level of teeth hygiene and care is limited only to the extend of brushing our teeth every morning, January to December.

Well recently after having a fish bone stuck in my gums(recent is relative), a resolution to see a dentist had to be reached, because my personal space of comfort was being invaded. It's sad that when it comes to medical care, our urgency to see a doctor arises only when things get out of hand, do we choose this? no. Our pocket circumstances inevitably chooses this situation for many of us who have no health care schemes or medical covers nor can we afford one. The number of lives lost and health situations gradually going from bad to worse, that could have been prevented just by early medical attention and care are deeply saddening.

As much as we owe it to ourselves to seek medical attention earlier, the government also owes it to it's people to ensure that these crucial services are made available to them indiscriminately. The state owned hospitals too, owe it to the taxpayer, to have reasonable pricing. The private hospitals too have the moral mandate to care for all it's citizen whether poor or rich, employers owe their employees medical cover, but noooooo, money is everything even in life or death situations. Worse is if you get a death defying incidence and are rushed to any one of the so called private hospitals that instantly ask for hundreds of thousands of shillings before they can even touch your dying body, sickening.

And as the Internet era continues to grow, even getting a question answered online costs money, but thank God for the overhaul of information now available to all 'self proclaimed, self medicators out there'. To one extend this is great because once you find out the information, you are able to ask the right questions when you visit a doctor and you know which steps to take when you do start your doctor visit. Having medical friends here and there, is quite helpful and resourceful when the need to get medical attention creeps up. Whatever the case always pray that you end up in the right medical hands, because failure to do so always leads to continuous illnesses, undiagnosed illnesses or even death.