The day started out on a happy note. Oscar, the gentleman who wasn't able to make his appointment yesterday because he couldn't afford the bus ride, was able to find the funds to make the trip today. We were all elated, but especially the dentists. In the morning they made an impression of his upper teeth for the purpose of make an obturator, which is a speech appliance. It will fit around his teeth like an orthodontic retainer, with an extention to the back of his throat. The obturator will close a defect between his soft palate and the back of his throat, thereby enabling him to speak clearly for the first time in 65 years.

Oscar will have to come back in the afternoon, at which time the portion of the appliance which will help correct will be formed. That will then be converted to plastic, and will be inserted in his mouth on Thursday. Funds will have to be found for him to make that bus trip.