Melissa Nelson Gabriel

mnelsongab@pnj.com

Dozens of veterans lined up outside Woodham Middle School on Thursday in the hopes of receiving dental care from a temporary clinic set up inside the school by volunteers with the Florida Dental Association Foundation.

More than 340 dentists from all over Florida have volunteered to treat Pensacola-area residents on Friday and Saturday.

On Thursday afternoon, they selected 300 veterans to be the first people treated when the Mission of Mercy clinic officially opens at 6 a.m. on Friday. The organization plans to treat 2,000 people in total during the event, which runs from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Other patients will be seen on a first-come, first-served basis.

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U.S. Navy veteran Gary Upshaw showed up outside the school early Thursday with his broken tooth in his pocket. Upshaw said he broke the tooth about two months ago and had been dealing with a toothache since.

"The only thing that hurts more than a broken tooth is a broken heart," he said as he joked with other veterans waiting in the line.

Navy veteran Lester White, who showed up before 9 a.m., was one of the first people in the line.

By mid-day, White was wearing one of the turquoise volunteer shirts and helping to organize the line that had formed behind him. He said he could not afford regular dental care and wanted help with cavities and other problems with his teeth.

"Sometimes you are between a rock and a hard place, and you have to spend your money on your mortgage and other things," he said.

The Pensacola clinic marks the third year the association has put on a free dental clinic in the state. In 2015, the group treated 2,900 patients in Jacksonville and provided $2.7 million in free dental care, said Dr. Zack Kalarickal, a Tampa dentist who helped to organize the Pensacola event.

Along with the 340 volunteer dentists, 200 dental assistants, 470 dental students and hundreds of other people volunteered to convert the middle school campus into the state's largest dental clinic.

The school gymnasium has 100 dental work stations where the dentist can perform everything from root canals to tooth extractions. In another part of the campus is a row of dental X-ray machines.

Volunteer Mary Holzinger got a crash course in learning how to input patient information into the computer system as she set up her station inside another room with rows of computers.

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"I've never worked in a dental office, but they will have filled out most of the paperwork before they get to me. I will be making sure it is all in order," said Holzinger, who volunteers through the Five Flags Rotary Club.

Dr. Tom Brown, a Ponte Vedra endodontist, will spend his time doing root canals. At the Jacksonville event, the group completed about 50 root canals, he said.

"It's hard work, it's tough work and it's long work, but it is worth it to help people who need the help," he said.

The Mission of Mercy Clinic is the foundation's largest annual event. Pensacola dentist Dr. Kim Jernigan, helped bring the clinic to the city this year. Jernigan encouraged the group to serve veterans first because of the area's large population of military veterans.

Kalarickal, the Tampa dentist, is a Navy veteran who provided dental care for Marines on deployment. Kalarickal said there is a misconception that all veterans have access to dental care.

The reality is that most veterans do not qualify for dental services, he said.

"I have a special interest in the veterans, and I know they often do not get the full and continuous (dental) care that they need," he said. "What we are doing here is not a solution to all their problems, but it is a huge help."

For more information about the Mission of Mercy clinic, visit floridadental.org.

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