My Cranky Friend has one less reason to be cranky: he had an infected tooth removed. The persistent infection had been waxing and waning for months, kind of like the underground fire in Centralia, but being strapped for funds and lacking dental insurance, he just put up with it.
Finally he made an appointment at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Dental Medicine in Philadelphia. At the dental school's teaching clinics, students learn their craft under the watchful eye of faculty, and fees are correspondingly much reduced.
I volunteered to drive him into town and dropped him off at the Robert Schattner Center in the middle of Penn's campus at 240 South 40th Street. I found a place to park on the street just a few minutes away and then returned to the oral surgery clinic. While I waited, I knitted and enjoyed watching the earnest, enthusiastic and very young-looking dental students bustling around the place, their clinic coats flapping.
After only an hour, the Cranky Friend emerged, with a mouthful of gauze and minus the offending molar. Almost immediately, he claimed to feel globally better than he had in months; let's hope that cheerfulness lasts.
No comments:
Post a Comment