A week and a half ago, I woke up to something crunchy in my mouth and discovered that one of my fillings had come out and there was now a big hole in one of my teeth. For the curious, it is the fourth tooth from center on the top right part of my mouth. For the teeth-inclined, my almost-dentist friends have said it is one of my pre-molars.
Anyway, this proved particularly difficult because I am about to have no dental insurance, and everyone knows dental work is pretty pricey. But we have several friends who are dental students, so yesterday Natalie and I road-tripped our way out to SF to hang out with our friend Ester and to see what Leslie had to say about my tooth.
Leslie came prepared with all these tools and materials, and to make a long story short, I found myself in the middle of what I refer to as Living Room Dentistry: sitting on Ester's couch, leaning my head back as Leslie stood over me in her jeans, T-shirt, and fancy bright light, dental tools spread all across Ester's dining room table. I was amazed at how prepared Leslie was: I thought it'd be a quick check of "It's not that bad, we can get it fixed soon" or "Sorry to say, it's pretty bad."
Turns out it is pretty bad. I'll skip all the details and terms, but yeah it's pretty bad. Regardless, Leslie eventually decided it'd be better to put in a temporary filling than to leave the hole in my tooth exposed. This is where a little craziness starts happening: Because we weren't completely equipped in the living room, the dental students start getting a bit creative. With the uncertainty from such a unique case, a lack of materials, and no X-Rays, Natalie called her mom (who has experience in mission-field, random-situations clinical dentistry) to get some advice. Eventually Leslie's roommate Lori and another PCF alum/friend Al, both third-year students, end up in this living room dental office as well. As materials weren't cooperating or were running short, they kicked in creative measures with kitchen materials and mixing materials by hand. Each person also ran back to their rooms and various times to grab other materials--Lori even brought in some of the stuff she had on a dental mission in Peru!
Several things about the whole afternoon amazed me:
Anyway, this proved particularly difficult because I am about to have no dental insurance, and everyone knows dental work is pretty pricey. But we have several friends who are dental students, so yesterday Natalie and I road-tripped our way out to SF to hang out with our friend Ester and to see what Leslie had to say about my tooth.
Leslie came prepared with all these tools and materials, and to make a long story short, I found myself in the middle of what I refer to as Living Room Dentistry: sitting on Ester's couch, leaning my head back as Leslie stood over me in her jeans, T-shirt, and fancy bright light, dental tools spread all across Ester's dining room table. I was amazed at how prepared Leslie was: I thought it'd be a quick check of "It's not that bad, we can get it fixed soon" or "Sorry to say, it's pretty bad."
Turns out it is pretty bad. I'll skip all the details and terms, but yeah it's pretty bad. Regardless, Leslie eventually decided it'd be better to put in a temporary filling than to leave the hole in my tooth exposed. This is where a little craziness starts happening: Because we weren't completely equipped in the living room, the dental students start getting a bit creative. With the uncertainty from such a unique case, a lack of materials, and no X-Rays, Natalie called her mom (who has experience in mission-field, random-situations clinical dentistry) to get some advice. Eventually Leslie's roommate Lori and another PCF alum/friend Al, both third-year students, end up in this living room dental office as well. As materials weren't cooperating or were running short, they kicked in creative measures with kitchen materials and mixing materials by hand. Each person also ran back to their rooms and various times to grab other materials--Lori even brought in some of the stuff she had on a dental mission in Peru!
Several things about the whole afternoon amazed me:
- The confidence of third-year students to have the guts to just do what would be best for me. I feel I would have been hesitant to act outside a clinic in a living room, but these ladies were so determined to make a temporary filling for protection.
- The absolute. ridiculousness. of living room dentistry. Natalie's term was Jungle Dentistry, referring to the kind of health missions that happens in a jungle when materials are sparse and you get creative with whatever you have. Chopping boards, any sharp object, sanitizing the area with Chlorox (suggestion courtesy of Dr. Ito)...
- A whole afternoon of precious time for dental students--enough said.
- The genuine curiosity of the students. I guess this is understandable that they would be excited to put into practice what they learn in class, but still. The extra effort put into calling dentist friends, drawing on information studied, combining ideas...I think they'll be good dentists someday
So the whole in my mouth got temporarily filled, but we still had no long-term solution. Then Al mentioned her father has a practice in South San Francisco and offered to ask if he would see me. A few hours later we talk on the phone, and his associate will see me. Free. of. charge. This is still a temporary solution: clean up the decay, remove any dead bad stuff, and put in a filling that should at least last several months.
But as third-year students, both Al and Leslie need certain cases to complete for their clinics (or boards...I really am not sure). I will likely need a root canal (Tangent: Doesn't this sound like an ugly name for a procedure?), but that's also one of the things they'll need to complete. The dental school does these at a reduced price, but even a ~40% reduction comes out to about $550. But Al's dad is willing to pay for that procedure.
Here I am stuck at how to complete the story. Partially it's because the story isn't over yet--I haven't actually made it to the dentist, I have no idea how long it'll take for everything to be finally worked out. But the main thing is...what more can I say? To have a $1k procedure--in a series of loops, blessings, and connections--free?
The foresight God had into the whole thing baffles me. To have Al return in time for Leslie to see her (we hadn't even called Al originally) so she would suggest her father's office. Her father's willingness and generosity. Even Natalie's history and interest in dentistry--who would have thought that would come into play so personally?
These freak, unpredictable expenses are the things that terrify me about stepping into ministry where I won't have a lot of extra money to spare. Yet at this moment, all I can really say is Jehovah Jireh--My provider.
No comments:
Post a Comment