Local dentist, Dr. Nelson Krum of Paradise Dental Spa, donated dental supplies to the Innovative Readiness Training (IRT) Operation Wellness CNMI mission on Jul. 17, 2023.

The Saipan Rotary Group sent a notice to local dentists that there were items in the IRT’s dental service that were in short supply.

Krum had his office manager check, and at the time they didn’t have enough supplies to release any.

Maj. Lucinda Young, a dentist from the 143rd Dental Company, Aurora, Colorado, assigned to the IRT mission, made a call to Krum’s practice on Monday morning and was told to come by.

“When I called, they said they only had a few things. When I showed up, he went back into the supply and got even more than we asked for,” said Young.

Young walked out with burs, high-speed suction tips, and syringes of phosphoric acid etch needed for fillings,.

“When they came by today, I said, ‘Aww to hell with it, even if we run out,’ so…hopefully [it’s] enough to get them by until Wednesday,” stated Krum.

The donations “are significant to the mission. [We] can continue doing tooth fillings for the remainder of our time here.…It allows us to provide more care to people,” explained Young.

The people of CNMI are unable to use Medicaid to seek dental care until October so the IRT dentists “are the only ones providing care to a lot of these people…which is huge,” said Krum.