False Teeth and Real Suffering: The Social Course of `Germectomy' in Eastern Uganda

The removal of the incipient canine teeth (`germectomy') insmall babies is a practice carried out in many parts of easternAfrica. This article describes how `germectomy' among theJop'Adhola in Eastern Uganda is an important idiom of distress,referred to as false teeth by English speaking people, and lakijomarach (bad teeth) or gira kwanya (that which is removed) in thelocal language Dhop'Adhola. Through an analysis of how the notionof false teeth is shaped by macro social forces of war andpoverty as well as by negotiations within the local social world,the discussion is taken beyond the question of cultural belief.False teeth as a practice seems to have spread through vastgeographical areas within a few decades, but as the example ofthe Jop'Adhola shows, it has taken a particular social course ineastern Uganda – as it is most likely to also have doneeverywhere else it has gained a footing. By analyzing its socialcourse we may gain insight into important mediating socialprocesses which may have as much to do with actual health outcomein a particular area as health care per se.