Aumsville man gets pain-free smile at free dental clinic
Matt Price's teeth were so infected that pus and blood oozed from his gums when he pushed the roof of his mouth, and the pain kept him awake.
He chipped his top teeth in a motorcycle accident 15 years ago, and he couldn't afford to fix them. Bacteria slowly reduced them to darkened, jagged fragments. He kept his lips tightly closed so people wouldn't see.
"There hasn't been a day I didn't have pain," he said.
Emergency room doctors refused to treat him and dentists wanted $5,200 up front that he didn't have. His dental coverage maxed out at $1,500. The pain grew so intense one day that he split his gums with a razor blade and yanked out his canine tooth with needle nose pliers.
"When you're desperate enough and you hurt bad enough, and the hospital sends you home with a bottle of ibuprofen," he said, "you do what you have to do."
His home surgery provided temporary relief, but it didn't fix the problem. Last week the Aumsville resident pitched a tent at Chemeketa Community College in hopes of getting help.
Price was one of the 1,255 people who waited in line at Oregon Mission of Mercy in Salem Friday and Saturday for free dental care. He waited all night. He figured the volunteer dentists would pull a few of the worst teeth.
RELATED STORY: Patients wait for Mission of Mercy's free dental care
RELATED STORY: Free dental clinic continues Saturday at Chemeketa
"The people were so friendly and nobody judged anyone by how they dressed or how they looked," he said.
Hundreds of volunteer dentists, hygienists, students and community members help set up and run the temporary dental clinic, which travels to one Oregon city each year. This was the first time it hit Salem.
Services included cleanings, fillings, root canals, extractions and partial dentures at the two-day clinic. O'Brien Dental Lab, based in Corvallis, donates all of the partial dentures, taking the molds on site and rushing them back to the lab in Corvallis to make the inserts the same day.
But this year the dental lab volunteered to make three full sets of dentures. When Price heard that he would get a new set of top teeth, he cried.
"I asked them why me? I'm grateful," he said, "but I just couldn't believe it."
It was just a matter of fate, said Dr. Weston Heringer Jr., the retired Salem dentist who led the event. The lab said they could do three dentures, and he was just the guy who was there.
"It was his lucky day," Heringer said. "It sounds crazy but sometimes life is that way."
The surgeon pulled Price's 11 or 12 remaining top teeth Friday morning, and by 4 p.m. he had a new smile. Family and friends cried when they saw Price for the first time with his dentures. He smiled through his best friend's wedding ceremony Saturday.
"I haven't smiled in 10 years," he said. "Now my cheeks hurt from smiling so much.
"It's been absolutely life changing."
The pain is gone.
"I feel better, and it's all thanks to those guys," he said. "It's one of the most selfless things I have ever seen in my whole life."
Organizer Selma Pierce was impressed to see how Salem stepped up during its first Mission of Mercy clinic. She had an interim college president, bank vice president and Oregon Symphony in Salem president doing patient interviews, a Ph.D. working in food service, a dentist and fourth-year dental student doing waste removal and a foundation executive director escorting patients.
A group of 14 residents also cooked pancakes for hungry patients waiting in line Saturday. They served hundreds from three griddles outside the Chemeketa Community College gym.
"I'm amazed at the level of giving," Pierce said. "Salem really stepped up to do this."
Mission of Mercy 2015 will be held Nov. 23-24 at the Oregon Convention Center. The organization is searching for a site outside Portland to host the 2016 free dental clinic. Organizers are not sure when it will be back in Salem.
sknowlto@StatesmanJournal .com or (503) 399-6735
If you missed it
Mission of Mercy's free dental clinic wrapped up Saturday, but there are several other resources listed on its website for additional help:
Boys & Girls Club of Salem offers free screenings, cleanings, fluoride, X-rays, filings, extraction and oral health educaiton to low-income students pre-k to 12th grade in Marion and Polk counties who don't have insurance, 1395 Summer St. NE, Salem. Call (503) 581-7383, Ext. 34 or go to www.bgc-salem.org
West Salem Dental Clinic/Northwest Human Services offers a full range of services to adults and children on a sliding scale. It accepts Oregon Health Plan and private insurance, 190 Kingwood Ave., Salem. Call (503) 315-0712. Hours are 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday.
Source: Oregon Mission of Mercy