TGIF at the NepDent 2023 Dental Meeting in Lalitpur

January 06, 2023

TGIF at the NepDent 2023 Dental Meeting in Lalitpur

I had my breakfast at the Kumari Inn. I have really started to appreciate those breakfasts.

The women at the Inn had amazingly cleaned the most of the tar from my shoes. The road up the hill to the Inn remained closed, so I had to walk down the tarry hill to meet Dr. Kafle & Nisha. I put grocery bags over my shoes, but they were quickly punctured. Even so, I think these shoes are gonna last me a while longer.

We drove to Lalitpur, a suburb outside of Kathmandu. The drive actually took quite a while with traffic and crazy roads (and a significant distance). But the advantage was that I got to see a lot more of Kathmandu. We must have passed a dozed large temples (like this one). Things are still rebuilding everywhere from the 2015 earthquake.

We were in Nepal to attend the very first NepDent meeting ever. This is a combined meeting of the Nepal Dental Association and the Nepal Dental Distributors Assn. I learned that prior to 1999 there were no dental distributors (salesmen) in all of Nepal, because there were so few dentists (maybe only 50!). That has changed with the rapid increase in dental schools, since the first one opened in 1999. Now there are 12 schools. This is a big meeting in a huge auditorium with 50 vendors in an adjacent trade show hall. The building was FREEZING cold! Maybe 500 dentists and dental students were in attendance. Most flocked to the warmer trade halls and the outdoor (sunny) food vendors. I am one of a few "International Speakers." My presentation is Sunday morning.

One of this morning's speakers was a corporate sponsored endodontist, from India. In his presentation he cited one of my (semi-landmark) publications from 2005, and asked if I was in attendance.

After his presentation, we met up and had lunch together. I had veg fried rice (and forgot to take a photo). He did his endo training at NYU (in New York) a year behind my Endo training in Dallas.

For the second day in a row, I caught a ride with 3 women dentists. These three dropped me off at my hotel (although I could have walked).

I just missed the sunset from the front of my hotel.

I am staying at a nice hotel nearby to the convention center. It has (some) heat. As a speaker, I get one night comped, and I'll pay for the other night (I think $50). I'll check out Sunday. By staying here, I don't need to burden Dash & Nisha with my commute.