For some, there’s nothing worse than a toothache.
This was the case for Brad Thompson, who is a drilling consultant from Oklahoma. Thompson said he has been working in the Rock Springs area for several months; and things seemed to be going well until about Dec. 16, 2014, when he noticed a tooth was a little sensitive.
“I take pride in my teeth,” Thompson said.
Because of this, he set up an appointment with a Rock Springs dentist as soon as he could. During the examination, an X-ray was completed and the dentist told him he could not find anything wrong and that is might be a sensitivity issue.
Thompson continued throughout the holidays with a little bit of pain, accompanied by sensitivity, but all of that changed Sunday morning.
“I woke up with the worst toothache you could imagine,” Thompson said.
Since it was Sunday, Thompson did not know what to do, so he called the Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County’s emergency room and was disappointed to find out that they did not have a dentist on call, however they were able to give him some phone numbers to try.
Out of desperation, Thompson started calling all of those numbers and every dentist he could find in the phone book. He knew it was a long shot because it was Sunday, but the pain of the toothache caused him to act swiftly.
Thompson said he is a 53-year-old ex Marine and he had been through a lot, but nothing was as bad as this toothache.
It was on one of these phone calls that Thompson finally heard a voice and not an answering machine. That voice came from Julia Dearden of Bear River Dental in Evanston.
Dearden said they have someone on call every weekend to take phone calls; and this past weekend it was her turn. She said when she found out Thompson was in Rock Springs she knew Evanston was a little too far to go for someone in such pain. Thompson said she had a friend who worked as a dentist in Green River and thought Thompson should give him a call and see if he could help.
Her dentist friend, Bryce Castillon was reached by Thompson. Castillon was happy to help and met Thompson at his office.
“Bryce was just more than willing,” Dearden said. “I just love it, especially when friends are involved, when people are willing to help.”
Once at Castillon’s office, Thompson was told that the cause of the pain was from an infection that was taking place under one of his crowns. Something that should have been caught on the X-ray, but for some reason that portion of the X-ray done at the Rock Springs dental office was cut off. That particular tooth was not shown on it.
Thompson said he did want to name and Rock Springs dentist or hurt anyone’s reputation, but that should have been caught in December.
Thompson was impressed with Castillon’s knowledge and bed-side manner.
“We went out of his way to meet me and I want people to know it,” Thompson said.
Thompson said he is an old-fashioned guy who believes when people do good things they should get the recognition they deserve, which is why he called the Green River Star Monday morning to tell about his ordeal.
If Castillon hadn’t dropped what he was doing on a Sunday afternoon, Thompson just knows he would probably had still been in pain and trying to find dentist Monday morning, but instead he was participating in an hour-and-a-half long conference call.
“I feel like a new man,” Thompson said.
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