There hasn't been an operation like this on a basketball court in metro Richmond since Julius "Dr. J." Erving left mouths agape with his prowess. But the doctors plying their skills yesterday were dentists.
The open mouths belonged to people receiving free dental care courtesy of Goochland Free Clinic and Family Services and the Virginia Dental Health Foundation. And these doctors scored a slam-dunk with the patients they treated in the Goochland County Parks and Recreation gym.
"We've had people walking out of here hugging and sobbing and saying, 'This is the first time in years my mouth doesn't hurt,'" said project coordinator B.J. Attwood, a board member of the Goochland Free Clinic.
The dental-care marathon was a project of Mission of Mercy, launched by the Virginia Dental Health Foundation a decade ago in Wise County to provide dental care in underserved communities.
Area dentists, dental students and dental assistants volunteered their time to transform the gymnasium into a clinic for about 250 patients. The sound of dental tools whirring, grinding and flushing filled the air as dentists cleaned teeth, packed fillings and performed oral surgery and root canals.
Volunteers served food and coffee provided by local churches, Panera Bread and nearby Java Jodi's.
The clinic provided a much-needed service in Goochland County, a place where sprawling affluence mingles jarringly with rural poverty.
Attwood said the free clinic had a waiting list of 285 patients who were in pain. She said one woman had been in so much agony that when she couldn't remove a troublesome tooth with pliers, she used a gun to shoot it out of her mouth.
For the impoverished or those with jobs but without dental insurance, dental care is not a priority.
"A lot of the time, the choice is, 'Do I buy groceries for my kids, or do I get my toothache looked at?'" Attwood said.
A blue tarp covered the basketball court. Patients were directed to a triage to determine their course of treatment. If necessary, they were sent to an anesthesia table. Otherwise, they sat in the bleachers and waited to be summoned to one of 36 portable dental chairs.
Jessica Nester had to prod her husband to the clinic, bribing him at one point with tickets to see the metal band As I Lay Dying next Saturday at The National. Still, his fear of the dentist kicked in yesterday morning.
But after receiving two fillings, Nester said he felt numb but good. "Ryan actually said he's restored his faith in dentistry," his wife said of Dr. David Major of Mechanicsville.
You've never seen so many smiles after dental procedures.
"I have lost my fear of going to the dentist," said Gwen Lovera of Victoria, who hadn't had her teeth worked on since she lost her dental coverage in 2000. After three extractions and two fillings, "I feel immensely better," she said.
"This is just so badly needed, especially with the economic situation," said Jorg Huckabee-Mayfield of Nottoway, who drove Lovera to Goochland.
Some of the patients had their dental coverage dropped after leaving their jobs. Other were unemployed. Some had never been to a dentist.
"We had people who walked out of here with $4,000 worth of work," Attwood said.
Retiree Leon C. Smith of Henrico County entered the gym with an abscessed tooth and left breathing a sigh of relief.
"Now I can touch my face," he said, "and it's wonderful."
Contact Michael Paul Williams at (804) 649-6815 or mwilliams@timesdispatch.com.
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