After Dr. Newman and Dr. Luce finished the exodontia training and left us tools to continue the work, we knew that an opportunity would quickly come to try it on our own. The very idea of pulling teeth without the doctors around made me extremely nervous. One of the last instructions they left for us was “remember that you can stop at any time that you are uncomfortable and go get professional help“. Unfortunately, this just provided me a perfect excuse to say “I’m not comfortable” with all of the hurt teeth we saw.
Eventually, however, a little boy from our village was in such obvious pain that I decided to try to pull the tooth for him – and since that successful extraction Lori and I have pulled 4 additional hurting teeth in our village on our own.
Pulling teeth is such a unique experience, because we can see someone go from debilitating pain one moment to relief and peace the next. While caring for emotional, physical, intellectual and spiritual health of ourselves and those around us, we rarely get to see such quick and lasting results.
Here are some pictures from our most recent experiences pulling teeth in our village home:
