This Really Bites

David Kruithoff needed dental work, but didn’t have insurance or money. The Lakeview, Mich., farm hand lost many of his teeth to a medical condition, but didn’t want dentures. “I wanted permanent teeth,” he says. He couldn’t afford implants, so he made his own from stones. “I went out in the driveway and looked around for the right color. Then I’d grind them, make them fit.” He then implanted them himself. When it looked like they wouldn’t hold up well, he replaced them with a plastic mixture he made, “about 85 cents worth” of material, he said. He’s also given himself two root canals — with no anesthetic. “I went a little at a time” with a high speed hobbyist drill, stopping when he couldn’t take the pain, he said. So far, it appears his work is standing up well. Kruithoff says home dentistry is “a real learn-as-you-go process.” (Kalamazoo Gazette) ...An interesting kind of guy. When told he needs to get his head examined, he asks for a mirror.