I have so much to report! Unusual, coming from someone who does little besides sitting at a desk reading syllabi and downing extra large coffees.

This past weekend I participated in a dental school-sponsored event called Missions of Mercy Project (or MOM, for short). Several times a year, the dental hygiene students, dental students and faculty put on these massive events to provide free dental services to rural communities. Field clinics are set up, resembling a MASH unit with portable dental chairs, dental units, x-ray machines and sterilization facilities. Patients start lining up the night before to ensure that they have a place in line that guarantees that they will receive treatment.

It was unlike anything I've ever experienced, really. Some patients I spoke with did spend the night outside, others arrived from 2:30am and onwards to save a spot in line for treatment. We were set up in a high school, where the auditorium housed triage, hallways held lines of patients sorted by big yellow signs reading extractions, oral surgery, and hygiene. Finally, the gymnasium was ground zero, where all the magic was happening. Rows of portable dental chairs were lined up: hygiene on one end, fillings and extractions in the middle and surgery on the other end. I stood on the sideline for at least an hour just taking it all in. The smell of drilled teeth filled the air. Towards the end of the day, I shadowed a young dentist in the extractions area. Our patient said he had been in pain from a decayed wisdom tooth for six months and he was ready to get it removed. It took less than 10 minutes to drill and extract the tooth. A couple of stitches, and he was on his merry way. What an awesome gift!

The med students' role was less glamorous. We worked on the front line, ahead of triage, making sure the patients were fit for their dental procedures. In two days we screened about 700 patients' blood pressures, blood sugars, and medical histories. Things moved quickly, but I did note the excitement in some patients. In particular, one woman told me she had had had all her teeth removed earlier this year and was going to receive a full set of dentures that day. Others were more tense and afraid...justifiably so. One surgeon told us he had removed all of four patients' teeth that day. It was a bloody, gut-wrenching scene in the gym. But I am trying to focus on those who came away from the day smiling.