During our lunch break, we take a walk up a hill to the center for alcohol and drug rehabilitation, where 85 people, all male, are sharing in an Alcoholics Anonymous cooperative living experience. They're following the 12 steps of AA, learning sobriety, community, job skills, and probably most importantly, learning pride in their success of living without drugs. They live on this island year-round in part to stay away from temptation. They have no physician or dentist available to them, so they depend on the Flying Doctors or other social service groups for medical and dental care. Stover assists dentist Adrian Fenderson as an islander has some teeth extracted.
Most residents have no dental insurance.
Others are just here for exams. Others have decay, but for the most part they seem well cared for. We saw 42 patients, but the toughest patient was last. He was a young man who really needed oral surgery for a very painful back molar. It took the dentists almost an hour.