Stories of Kindness from Around the World

So after six long months, my date with the Dentist finally comes to an end. 

Yes people, thats where I spent  every weekend of my last six months healing my four front teeth in the upper jaw. It all started 2008 December with a fall that left one of the teeth half broken exposing the roots and slightly reshaping the adjacent ones. A root canal was performed and the three adjacent teeth were ground, and a crown placed protecting it. It was an expensive affair but the office took care of the bills. 

Exactly a year later, one of the teeth from the same area started giving me sharp pains and I soon found myself standing before a Dentist - another one this time as I had quit office and moved back to school. She just took one look at it and declared all the three teeth are dead. She was at a loss to understand why the doc who had treated me previously didn't perform root canal on them. 

The painful procedure was over by Feb 2010 and the only thing that remained was to fix the crown. But wait...there was a problem. Due to the sloppy work done previously, my gums were inflammed and were rioutously bleeding. It had to heal before the crown could be placed.  

So every weekend, I used to show up at the Dentist's office and each time she says...the area which I treated last week is fine but another area has inflammed. It was playing a cat and mouse game and this seemed to go on forever. Finally, last week, she informed me that the reddishness has disappeared and we could go ahead with the crown...what soothing words. 

She called me this morning to have my crowns placed. It was all done in 20 minutes...and I had my new set of teeth. I was happy but the most beautiful thing was yet to come. 

She asked me how much I had paid the last time...I said Rs 42000 and the office had paid it...and that too for just one tooth.  When asked how much should I pay her (I was dead scared when I asked her this) she said Rs. 10000. I responded...are you sure...is that all? She smiled...yeah that's all. 

She went on to tell me that money doesn't really matter. It is the actions that matter, expecting nothing in return. It is the happiness one gets on seeing his/her job well done. She also told me she teaches in a medical school once in a week. 

In India, treatment costs are really insignificant in dental schools. Most poor people go there to have their teeth fixed. 

I wanted to to something on my part. I did two things. She had all the pictures of my teeth...both before and after the treatment was done. I told her to use it to teach her students on how not to do things (like the previous dentist had). 

I also gave her Rs 10000 and 2K on top of that...telling her to use it to pay it for the people who go to the medical school for teeth care. She asked me...random kindness?  I was smiling wide, flaunting my new set of teeth...they were sparkling even better. 

Six months of pain and what a nice way to end it all. I walked out of the Dentist's office a very happy man!