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I met Joseph at our recent clinic in Winchester, Tennessee. He’s a middle school music teacher in Georgia. Off camera, he told me he enjoys playing horn instruments and likes saxophone most.
“I heard about the RAM clinic through TikTok,” he said. “I figured, you know, I’m a teacher and it’s over the summer, so it’d be the perfect time to travel, to get some work done.”
He needed multiple cavities filled on his top front teeth.
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“I’d been to many dentists that essentially told me it was going to be very exorbitant amounts of money,” he said.
Joseph left Georgia and drove three hours to Winchester. He arrived at the venue at 6 p.m. the night before and tried to sleep in his car, waiting for check-in the next morning.
Struggling to sleep, he occasionally sat up and looked around. He said other patients were doing the same thing. Before long, people were climbing out of their cars, stretching, talking. By morning, Joseph was no longer waiting alone.
Dr. John Osborne, RAM’s Dental Director and a Board member, supervised the dental team that worked on Joseph. Lindsey Farni, a fourth-year student at Lincoln Memorial University College of Dental Medicine, explained the process as she went.
“We have a patient here with a bunch of lesions, or cavities, in the front,” Lindsey said. “We drill everything out, then we have a resin, almost like a plastic, that we put in the tooth to build it back up and fill those holes.”
Joseph’s cavities were hard to miss when he talked or taught. “This year teaching, I had a lot of students make comments about my teeth, with it, you know, being in the front and so visible. I am excited to never have to hear a student ever say again, ‘What is that hole in your tooth?’ That is going to make my year next year, teaching.”
When the work was finished, Joseph held up the mirror.
“Oh my God, they look fantastic,” he said. “Wow. They look amazing. They look, they look absolutely amazing. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Oh, I’m not going to cry. I’ll cry later in my car by myself.”
Later, he said:
“The experience I’ve had today is life changing. I wish there were a RAM Clinic in every city in America. I can’t even put words to how this, in just a couple of short hours, has changed my life and will continue to change my life going forward.
It has been a great experience from the time I walked through those doors to the time I sat in this chair to finishing up. Everyone here is kind and understanding. It’s truly one of the best healthcare experiences I’ve ever had.”
He’s headed back to the classroom this fall without worrying that a student will ask about his front teeth.
If you’ve supported RAM before, thank you. Your gift helped make this possible.
If you would like to help with what comes next, there are a few ways. You can give to fund a future clinic. You can volunteer your time or professional skills. Or you can share Joseph’s story so someone else finds RAM the way he did.
