Quite some time ago I had a root canal treatment. On Friday it started hurting me a lot, and the crown was loose. I tried calling the dentist, but they weren’t available to help me. In pain, I turned to the Healer of all flesh and davened that Shabbos would pass without any problems.
Baruch Hashem, the pain ceased in honor of the holy Shabbos, and on Sunday I went to the dental clinic. They took an X-ray, and the doctor told me with a serious look on his face, “You have a severe infection in your tooth. It doesn’t look like we’ll be able to save it. We’ll extract the tooth and put an implant in its place.”
In answer to my question of how much that pleasure would cost me, the doctor responded, “Four thousand five hundred shekels.”
I was shocked. I am an avreich who hardly makes it to the end of the month. From where would I have such a sum? I don’t take loans, and baruch Hashem, we manage from day to day. But how was I to get hold of such a huge sum?
I decided to do some hishtadlus. I started listening to the Hashgachah Pratis phone line with greater frequency in order to get chizuk. I also did a cheshbon hanefesh. I very quickly came up with the point that I needed to fix – it’s connected to taking breaks in the middle of learning. The yetzer hara always lures me to speak about seemingly urgent matters, and, unfortunately, I do speak some devarim beteilim.
I decided to strengthen myself in this matter and to stop taking these breaks in the middle of learning. I would learn without interrupting and tell the yetzer hara that we would speak later... This was very difficult for me, but anyone who has gotten a taste of learning nonstop already understands that the investment pays off.
Along with this chizuk, I also davened to Hashem to save my tooth.
A few days later, I went to a bigger expert and waited with a trembling heart to hear his diagnosis. I davened to Hashem the whole time, and then the big moment came – the doctor took an X-ray.
He looked at the X-ray intently and then said, “Nice, nice... your teeth are fine.”
“So I don’t need an implant?” I asked suspiciously.
“Implant? Why an implant? You have excellent teeth; halevei everyone had such teeth. You don’t need any implant.”
I saw the X-ray this dentist had studied, and I had seen the X-ray from two weeks earlier as well, and I was forced to say that one does not need to be a big expert to see with your own eyes how the tooth in the first X-ray looked like it was about to finish its job in this world, while the tooth in the second X-ray looked completely different. We might think that these X-rays were taken from two separate people.
I left the dentist filled with emotion, and the first thing I did in gratitude to Hashem was to relate my story on the Hashgachah Pratis phone line. You gave me so much chizuk during these past two weeks – you deserve my hakaras hatov.
