By: Joel Rubin

For Dr. Ralph Howell, years of wishing and hoping and planning for a free dental clinic in his hometown of Suffolk nearly came to a screeching halt just after noon on March 8.

A 185 PSI compressor, on loan from a local agency, suddenly stopped and killed all power to air and vacuum lines and effectively silenced drills and electric brushes that Howell and his fellow dentists were using to clean molars, fill cavities and suction body fluids. “They could continue doing extractions and examinations, but that was about it,” said veteran dental technician Bill Hall, who was in charge of setting up all the equipment on the floor of Kings Fork Middle School that day. “I’ve been doing this for 15 years, and this is the first time we’ve ever had a compressor go down.” (more…)