A TRIBUTE TO DR. GEORGE WILLIAM SSAMULA ( 21st December 1944- 26th August 2025)
George and Betty on their wedding day in March 1981
George was among the first six indigenous Ugandan dental surgeons.
On 26th August 2025, I woke up to the shocking news of the death of my dentist of over fifty years, Dr George Williiam Ssamula.
He had been in the Intensive Care Unit of one of the hospitals in Kampala, Uganda for some weeks but still the news left me shattered for I had lost a friend, a guide and a dentist all in one. A frequent reminder that death is part of life and that life continues beyond each one of us. I had visited the family watching over their beloved patriarch and doing whatever was possible to make his life comfortable.
I had recently seen him with his wife at the funeral service of a colleague’s daughter and we had briefly caught up on each other’s lives.
I first met George while I was a second year medical student at Makerere University, residing in Africa Hall- one of two all women halls at the time. Makerere University was then the only national university and there were about twenty women students in our cohort. As was the custom, we were early birds, typically the first ones to wake up, have our breakfast in the cafeteria hall then walk briskly across the Katanga slum, a place teeming with humanity.
It would take us fifteen minutes on a normal day but about 30 minutes in the rainy season. Whatever the season, lectures started at 8am on the dot. In the evening we would walk back in groups but during the clinical years we would stay longer in the hospital wards. This made us close to one another and by the final year we had become each other’s keeper more so during President Amin Dada’s tyrannical rule.
Betty Lwanga , a third year student was dating a handsome , tall, lanky dentist working in the Mulago Hospital dental department. George was rather shy but outgoing and used to drive us as Betty’s friends, around Kampala and taking us out for drinks, to bachelors’ parties and night clubs in his grey fiat car.
Both Betty and George were from Masaka , further South and were staunch Catholics. They got married a few years after Betty’s graduation in 1976 and were blessed with a family of six girls and two boys. The boys were the youngest members of the family. Like the local weed Kanyebwa, their family grew bigger as they took on young girls and boys from both their families in Masaka.
Betty worked as a medical officer in Mulago hospital while George continued working at the Mulago public health Dental Assistants’ school.
From the onset, George encouraged us to have dental check-ups and cleaning and these were always free. In the 80s, he was instrumental in reviving the Uganda Dental Surgeons Association which later pushed for the introduction of the Bachelor of Dental Surgery at Makerere Univesity in 1982. The first batch graduated in 1987.
George resigned from the Ministry of Health and opened a private dental clinic at Uganda House right in the city centre. With a small group of loyal assistants and Betty in the shadows, he built up a big practice still standing today. After 1987, he opened it up as an internship site for the newly graduated dentists.
As a student, he was a brilliant person who worked his way through the best Catholic schools of the time namely St.Henry’s Kitovu and Namilyango College. Then he won himself a scholarship to study Bachelor of Dental Surgery in Birmingham, UK in 1972.
He was the real portrait of a dental surgeon as the work demands of them:
• Exceptionally dexterous with meticulous attention to details- the mouth is a small area that requires a dentist to have steady hands and to practice with and coordinate delicate instruments,
• Strong communications skills- mandatory to help patients understand complex procedures in simple terms to gain the patient’s trust and cooperation.
• Empathy and compassion- a dentist room and chair can be very intimidating to the young and old at each visit. Each visit is its own adventure.
• Lifelong learning and adaptability- vital in this digital technology-driven 21st century where things change very fast. So regular updates of your knowledge of new techniques and materials are imperative. At the same time, they have to consistently teach their patients about oral health and health in general.
• Being responsible and accountable- from how you present yourself: clean and tidy when handling patients to make them feel safe and at ease under your care while giving them quality care.
• Trustworthy and a person of integrity- dental procedures are usually painful and patients require an honest and reliable dentist with whom to trust their health.
• Team work- dentist do not work alone but are assisted by a group of people. The dentist has to be decisive, highly confident and result orientated.
For the fifty years I knew George, he was never a performer but just himself. In his white coat, mask and gloves, clean shaven and smiling he would ease the tension between the two of you. In his soft voice but with little said, he would make you as relaxed as he was. My brain would accept and make me ready for the procedure. I have never overcome the fear of needle pricks so he always gave me some time to settle down and before I knew it, the procedure would be done. With long procedures, he would tell you the truth without apologies.
As he removed his gloves, he would remind me of the 3-3-3 rule for oral health: Brush 3 times a day for 3 minutes, floss 3 times a day and change your toothbrush every 3 months.
My children, my sisters and friends were treated by him for years, being drawn to him for his habit of being real and honest. His pleasant demeanour would make people feel safe in his presence.
For the two and a half decades I was away, he took care of my mother’s dental care and instilled it in her to have annual dental check- ups. He never allowed her to pay for the service except, four years ago, when he had her fitted with dentures mainly to enjoy her meat. The dentures were made in Mengo hospital and that was what she paid for.
In Botswana , I was on Medical Aid and could be seen by at least by 2 dentists: one from Ghana, trained in UK and another well trained from Tanzania. They always marvelled at the dental fillings and the health of my teeth. They could hardly believe that they were all done in Uganda. They are still intact today.
On my return , I visited the clinic and my file was still intact among the oldest in the clinic! The old faithful receptionist and dental assistants were still serving. Betty was still occupying her small office at the back, making sure that things ran like clockwork.
There were many nuns of different ages, in their blue or grey robes and some Catholic fathers.
Apparently, little had changed as those men and women of the Catholic church were treated for free as it had been in the beginning. That unanswered question of more than fifty years flashed in my mind : Who paid for his services?
Proverb 11: 25 Be generous and you will be prosperous. Water others, and you will be watered.
We talked of his looming retirement. His dentist daughter trained in UK preferred to work in UK. He had brought in a lady dentist but still George’s queue remained long.
In all this, we commended Betty in her quiet strength and insight, for running everything else : home, a career, other businesses and the extended family while George worked 8-5pm and sometimes beyond.
As a person, George, was God-fearing, kind-hearted and fun loving. He was a natural philanthropist; always building up people and contributing to building churches and schools, he was also a community library.
He was one person who felt free to show his vulnerability as a human. In the late 80s, he lost his father, his mentor. As he, his mother and siblings followed the casket to the grave, he was barefooted!
With our African extended families, I cannot count the number of weddings, baptisms, graduations and housewarmings that we have celebrated together alongside our storms and problems.
The girls and boys are down to earth warm children who treat others with respect.
They are professionals in gainful employment. They are productive people with homes of their own.
They are leaders at their places of work and in their local churches. They never miss the opportunity to meet as one big family at any of their homes.
I watched them take surgical precision control over the support and care of their father as he lay fighting for his life in the ICU.
During the vigil held in their home perched on Mbuya hill, mourner after mourner paid glowing tribute to George. Two constants kept coming through. “He treated me and my children for free.’’ “He pushed me to buy land and build a home.’’
My adult children remembered him fondly as the dentist who fixed their teeth for free!
Later, as I retired in bed, I kept asking myself that same nagging question:
Who paid George for his services at the clinic?
George and Betty launched their children into the world with strong family values, a firm Christian foundation and the best education available while keeping them grounded.
He ensured that they could go on and flourish without their parents.
”’No legacy is so rich as honesty.’’- William Shakespeare
For our dental surgery, we shall continue going there knowing very well that George trusted the lady dentist running it beyond any doubt that she would offer us what we needed and expected.
As for my sincere friend, Betty, you lost a soul mate.
You were the woman who helped him give of his best to us.
The children and grandchildren and the memories you created together will serve as beacons of light and hope along the next phase of your journey. No doubt you will flourish.
George, you lived to enjoy the fruits of your labour and you finished strong. As long as we still have a few teeth left and keep brushing them 3 times a day, we will always remember you with fondness and gratitude.
You were among the cream of the crop of your time. You taught us and pushed us to be much more and to do much more for ourselves and others.
“Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.’’– Albert Einstein
REST WITH THE ANGELS,GEORGE!
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