Hooray for Eric - my hero!

Letters to the Editor

Dentist heroic for injured local 11-year-old boy

March 30 — To the Editor:

Several weeks ago, our son of 11 years found himself in an awkward and painful situation, the kind of scenario only young persons could find themselves in. At least we hope this is the case.
Athletic and strong for his age, he was outdoors one cool winter day dunking his basketball into our neighbor's hoop from a 3-foot-high snow bank all while envisioning KG or Paul Pierce, streaming Jordan-like through the air. A vision every young basketball fan experiences.
What could possibly happen, you ask? The unthinkable! Just like the scene from "The Christmas Story," when the little boy got his tongue stuck on the frozen flag pole. Only this episode didn't include a flagpole and that little boy wasn't related.

Our son had managed to get one of his front teeth (central incisors) caught on the net of this basketball hoop and suffered what we labeled significant trauma to his mouth. Bleeding and bruised, the tooth had all but fallen out. Our family was horrified when he came running into the house screaming and crying with a tear-filled face. Initially we thought for sure he would need a prosthetic.

Why am I sharing this story with the public? Because there is a nice ending thanks to the contributions of two local medical practitioners. Very soon after the incident occurred, PCD Janis Krauss Krieger, DMD, and staff recommended we drive our son to Exeter orthodontist (he's an endodontist, but hey they spelled his name right!) Eric Gotlieb, DDS, to help thoroughly diagnose and treat his injury.

Knowing our dental insurance didn't cover the type of treatment (root canal) our son required, we were expecting to pay "out of pocket" for this service. It just so happened that the next day, when we brought our son to Dr. Gotlieb, he was conducting his annual "Giving Back" community program by offering free dental coverage for all treatments. Soon upon converting my disbelief, Dr. Gotlieb was busy at work walking us through his procedures that would later facilitate a quick and nearly pain-free recovery for our son.

We would like to express our fondest gratitude and thanks to Dr. Krauss Krieger for making the initial visit readily available and Dr. Gotlieb and his staff for treating our son's injury with such care and expertise. We are also grateful that we were one of the recipients to receive the benefit of Dr. Gotlieb's community service program. Dr. Gotlieb was professional, comforting, informative and very knowledgeable in his field of practice, and it sure helped having a flat-screen TV arm's length from our son so he could watch the highlights of his beloved Boston Celtics while receiving his medical treatment.

Sincere thanks.
Ed and Marylee Nasser