Dental Care Success Story

Iris - A Journey of Recovery

   by Gil Reines, Head of Mobile Dental Clinic Operations, NATAN

Mobile Dental Clinic - Haifa, Israel

NATAN volunteer dentists at work in one of our mobile dental clinics. The image shown is for illustration purposes only. Image is not related to the subject of this story.

We met Iris (pseudonym) for the first time at an addiction recovery center. That was two and a half years ago.

Iris is a young woman in her 20s, from a kibbutz.

Iris was in very bad health. She had first come to the center suffering from anorexia. She weighed about 30 kg (66 lbs) at the time she was admitted.  She had also just recently completed a drug rehabilitation process.

Both anorexia and drug abuse are extremely destructive to the teeth, gums and general oral health. In addition, anorexia can lead to osteopenia or osteoporosis. This weakens the teeth and bones, making them brittle and prone to breaking.  Prolonged malnutrition can lead to severely receding gums, advanced gum disease, bone loss, and tooth loss.

We started with emergency treatments – extractions,  fillings and cleaning out tooth decay.

After about 4 treatments, Iris stopped coming in for further treatments.

Two months ago Iris came to our clinic in Haifa.

I barely recognized her.

She had gained weight and now looked healthy and strong.

Iris had completed the detoxification process from drugs and had recovered from anorexia.

She came back to the clinic several times for further treatment.

She told us that she had been in a closed facility and only now was she allowed to go out for further treatments.

It was exciting to meet her and very gratifying to see how her health had improved. The dental reconstruction we did has done much for Iris’ self-esteem and sense of wellbeing.

This journey of recovery is a true success story. It is testament to the patient’s determination and inner strength.