A TRIP TO THE DENTIST

Here is a story that will warm your heart and touch your soul.   Suzanne writes:

How is it possible that a trip to the dentist can be a blessing, even a miracle? My trip last week was both of those things and an experience I will never forget.

    In February, I broke 3 teeth on 3 different ocassions with one going all the way down to the nerve canal. One was so jagged that my tongue was a mess every day. The 3 were distributed on both sides of my mouth which made eating or drinking anything very difficult and extremely painful.

    Like most of us these days, we do not have "extra" finances and I found it would cost close to $10,000 to fix my mouth properly. This was not even an option for us and so I began to dig in mentally, hoping that eventually I would either get used to my new situation or the pain would go away. Neither happened and I was struggling badly. My jaw began to slip out of joint and the nerve spasms were causing my neck, shoulder and arm to lose feeling.

    Two weeks ago, while at a young women's church activity, I was trying to be brave but was almost in tears. My friend Debra noticed and took me aside. When I told her the problem, she said, "we can fix this". She then proceeded to tell me about her son, the dentist, in San Francisco. She called another of our friends over, told her the problem, then got on the phone with her son and told him the problem. He asked to speak with me! He asked lots of questions and I answered them the best I could. He then talked to his mom again and with an hour of all of this taking place, Debra, her son Nathan and our other friend Tamar, had a plan.

    We left Tuesday night at 8:30pm. Debra and Tamar, (my own personal angels), DROVE ME to San Fransisco! We arrived Wednesday morning at 9:30am. We went straight to Nathan's apartment, took a nap and then got showered and cleaned up. Nathan was at work but said to be at his office at 5pm that evening. I was incredibly nervous and so my angels knew exactly what to do. They took me to an incredible outlet mall! We had a great few hours just wandering around. At 5pm I found myself in Nathan's dentist's chair and with his amazing assisstant Maria, helping him every step of the way, Nathan worked on my mouth for the next 7 hours! At 12:15am he was done and I was the proud owner of 1 root canal, 2 beautiful crowns, one new white tooth, (replacing the black, dead one) 2 porcelain fillings and numerous porcelain touch ups along my gum line. What he charged me plus paying his assistant was so low that I cannot even reveal it. But because of Nathan, I now am pain free, have a non embarrassing smile and have teeth that will last alot longer than I will!

    We left Thursday afternoon and made the long drive home, arriving Friday at 6:20am just in time for my family to wake up and wish me a Happy 50th birthday! The best present ever.

    Even with all of the physical comforts, I can honestly say that I have come away with something far greater. An appreciation of the goodness of people and their unselflessness as they help another person. I will never be able to repay any of these people in the manner which they so deserve and yet all of them made it clear they didn't want to be repaid,that they were just so happy that they could help. I have struggled with this in the days since until I remembered what my mum is always reminding me of...."Suzanne, just be sure to pay it forward." That I can do but still will forever be grateful for this little group of angels that took it upon themselves to help me when I needed it most. Bless you and thank you.