DENTAL SURGERY
GORDON LEE IS WELL KNOWN AROUND town for his high-energy, rapid-fire photography of local sports teams, events and graduation ceremonies. When he began feeling unwell several years ago, he thought he was simply coming down with a bad case of the flu. He was photographing a local high school graduation ceremony and couldn’t shake his dizziness and nausea. He finished up the job and went home to rest. The next day, his family was alarmed when Gordon was so lethargic he could barely get out of bed. When Gordon finally woke up, he was at Victoria General Hospital. He had been rushed there by ambulance and admitted with a dangerous staph infection in his mouth. Doctors told him it was the worst they had ever seen and, terrifyingly, had spread all the way to his heart. Gordon had not seen a dentist in more than 20 years, as a negative experience in childhood sparked a decades-long aversion to regular checkups and cleanings. The cardiac infection damaged one of Gordon’s heart valves to the extent it needed to be replaced. The open heart surgery team at Royal Jubilee replaced Gordon’s valve with a new titanium valve while Dr. Anthony Nadolski, Division Head of Dentistry with Island Health, worked alongside them in the operating room to clean up the oral infection. “I’m so thankful to the doctors in our hospitals for saving my life. I now go to the dentist every three months and will never again underestimate the importance of my oral health,” says Gordon. This campaign is funding a dental processor, equipment that enables dental surgeons like Dr. Nadolski to take high-resolution digital x-rays in circumstances where the patient needs to have radiographs taken under general anesthesia to determine an immediate plan for dental restorative/surgical work. Dental Surgery Equipment: $11,300 victoriahf.ca/dentalsurgery