Street Dentistry

Regular readers of this newsletter might recall my previous writing about the many indelible images I've stored related to homelessness in Oregon. For example, I recently posted an account of witnessing a kind of homeless wagon train.

Some of the other indelible images:

The dumbwaiter in the two-storey pallet and plywood shanty.

The man in the encampment barbecuing a crawdad with a blow torch.

Two men playing foosball in an encampment.

The dwelling constructed from volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

The roadside memorial for Joe, a homeless man killed in a hit and run accident a couple years ago not far from where I live.

There are so many more.

And to add to the list...

A week ago I was driving home after a great visit with my dad residing in an assisted living center.

I drove through an intersection and glanced right toward the 7-11 convenience store, where many homeless men and women in the neighborhood often congregate.

Something was going on. I slowed down.

On the sidewalk near the 7-1l, I saw a homeless man attempting to pull a tooth from a homeless woman with a shaved head who looked totally out of her mind while writhing in agony. Another homeless man steadied her with his hands on her solders as the dentist worked with pliers or tweezers or some other tool. I couldn't see clearly.

The woman was standing up during the procedure.

I said something aloud in my astonishment of this scene but I no longer recall the words.

Rarely in these moments do I circle around for another examination of something I've witnessed in America that was unimaginable a decade or even five years ago. I didn't this time either.

I sometimes wonder why I continue writing up these moments of indelible images. As a writer, I'm merely observing and recounting with hardly any deeper reflection or analysis or commentary.

It feels like something much, much larger is at work in America than a shortage of affordable housing, fentanyl or untreated mental illness. Something has been ripped apart or gone totally bankrupt. I think about it all the time.