Two-Dollar Dental Work at a Mobile Medical Clinic

As a kid, I would watch as my dentist sterilized his instrument on a small Bunsen burner before proceeding on my filling. No reclining chair, no humor and certainly no laughing gas. Those were dental visits from the history books.

Eventually he moved into pre-retirement, spending more time grooming his yard and flower gardens with his wife. With this, he suggested that Mom seek a new dentist for me and my siblings. (Mom obliged by taking herself and Dad to a new dentist along with us kids.)

Was it that cut-the-kids ruling (I learned of it decades later) that prompted my own desire for kids to wait outside the medical caravan truck? I don't know, but as I watched, I wondered when the ax would come from Dr. Reinaldo:

"Afuera por favor." (Wait outside please.)

As he worked on mouth after mouth, the verbal "boot" never was uttered, not even under his breath. Even the returning 5-year-old, Andres, did not warrant a reproof. Instead, Reinaldo put himself on a first-name basis with the boy and conversed with him.

One girl stood and watch as Mom was attended to. Little Natalia came in unaccompanied, boldly acquanting herself with Reinaldo . . . until she was actually in the chair.

Cleanings took the longest; extractions were quickest. Extraction, filling, or profilaxis cost $2. The biggest currency that was pressed into my hand was a $10 bill, and by then I had enough in the coffee cup to make change. Part of the joy of this job was giving a Gospel of John to people as they left.

Most had just one procedure. But Edison, a young man with hand-drawn tattoos on his arms (yeah, I still notice) had two extractions one afternoon, then returned for another pulling the next day. Another man's smile revealed decorative gold framing his front teeth -- the handiwork of an earlier dentist elsewhere.

Reinaldo also did a few consults and charged the patients nothing for those. Beginning at 10 a.m., we saw 21 patients by 4 p.m. that day, then we, the two docs, and Ian packed up everything and backed the caravan off of the blocks.

Jofre moved the caravan to a new location nearby.

There were likely kids there too. And plenty of dental and medical needs.

Another dental diary is here.