Saturday afternoon I received the following text from my son.

I need a dentist… does Ron do Saturdays? puck to face

When we moved to L in 1989,  E joined a men’s recreational hockey team. He met some great friends on the team. Those guys went on to coach their sons together and shared a great social/athletic circle over the fifteen odd years we had kids in the minor hockey league.

E was playing hockey six months after his heart transplant. He had to hang up his skates when he was fifty not because of the heart transplant but because of his back.. He would play and then not be able to stand straight for two days…. His main goal coaching was to instill a love of the game which would see the boys shooting pucks together throughout their lives.

After I finished paying $6000.00 for each of my sons beautiful straight smiles at the Orthodontist, Ron, our dentist told me if there was ever a hockey incident and I needed him, I was to collect the teeth off the ice, keep them cold and call him. He would meet me at the office… There was a broken wrist once but never a tooth related emergency.

Our sons now play on a recreational hockey team together. At Christmas they hold an annual charity game in the same rink where they learned to skate in L’il Gretskys. The proceeds go to the local hospital foundation. This, the fifth year, they raised $4000.00. E couldn’t be more pleased that all those early morning hours on the ice have given these boys an avenue for healthy competition and friendship for life. That they see the reason to give back to the community which did so much for them growing up, makes us all very proud.

My sons text was news I’ve been prepared for, for 26 years…. I texted our dentist at his home, he thankfully responded right away.  I told son to meet Ron at his office.. Son says needs stitches to his face first and is sitting in a packed emergency ward… I said, save your teeth, go to Ron’s office first….

Ortho was worth every penny when he decided to leave a bar behind on my sons lower teeth to keep them from going crooked again. That bar and the mouth guard spread the impact of the puck to his mouth and held the teeth in place. The three teeth are, for the moment alive and attached to the bone… Ron checked him out, will keep an eye on him and stitched all the cuts. All is well. Son has some new scars, will have a great story to tell and probably score a few beer at the bar.

Ron, has been taking care of our families teeth for 26 years. E required special consideration post transplant and Ron was on it.. When we moved to the island we refused to give him up. His staff goes above and way beyond all expectations to fit us in around his transplant clinic appointments every spring and fall.

Living out on this island, far away from our kids and the town where we raised them, I was able to pick up the phone and call our dentist at four o clock on a Saturday and he dropped everything to meet our son at his office to help. How

great is that