I was at JFK Airport about to leave for Morocco when I took a bite of a sandwich and suddenly my front tooth with a cap came off. I had the cap in one hand and the sandwich in the other. I went into the bathroom to assess the damage and let me tell you my smile was not a good look.

Where my tooth had been was a small triangular piece of an incisor tooth. I looked like I was the child of a lesser god. I was flying out to a country not exactly famous for its dental practices, and I realized that my only options were: (1.) Not to smile for the rest of the trip. (2.) Insert the cap and hope that it doesn’t fall out. (3.) Cancel the trip and return home for a dental repair. (4.) Fly to Morocco with the hope that I could get a temporary fix. Anyone who has met me before knows I decided on options two and four.

On the second day of the trip we were in Casablanca, a large city, so I embarked on my quest to find a dentist. I had an address, but trust me the streets are not laid out in a grid system. A kind woman used up much of her lunch hour to get me to the dental office, only to discover that the dentist had moved… Finally I made it. The dentist was a very nice gentleman who said that he could make it better but could not guarantee that the cap would hold. I tried to pay him, but he wouldn’t take any money. Tooth reconstructed, my self-esteem immediately rose; only to be deflated at dinner when the cap came loose and was once again in my hand rather than my mouth.

The trip continued and in Marrakesh, I had another opportunity to see a dentist. She was a young French dentist who managed to get the cap set correctly. I paid $90 and felt like it was one of the best bargains of my life.

The tour continued and all went well. We went over the Atlas Mountains covered in snow to the Sahara Desert, filled with nothing but dunes. I climbed up a dune which was 400’ and I was afforded an amazing view of the desert landscape and sunset. At night we gathered around a fire with the guides and sang traditional Moroccan songs. With no ambient light, I will never forget the sky filled with more stars than I have ever seen! The image of the night sky in the Sahara Desert is burned into my memory. As we left the desert, there was a race of ATV’s across the desert complete with TV coverage, helicopters, and drones. I left Morocco with my teeth intact but that lasted only until I got on a yacht in Croatia. The tooth story is to be continued………