In Genoa there is a dentist who makes the patient pay what he can afford.

SOCIAL DENTIST GENOA

To tell this beautiful story of love for others, we will take a journey from Greece to Genoa. Starting with a middle-class family of eight children, and the sacrifices of a father who sends them all to school. Hard work and education, in a homeland of men and women as supportive and proud as the Greeks are, which a few years later will find itself facing a devastating social crisis, from which it will barely recover, and with difficulty. To arrive in Genoa, a working-class city, open and welcoming: where Nicolas Dessypris He arrived, leaving that large family to follow an instinct, more than a simple profession: that of caring for and helping others, somehow improving their lives. Only a Greek, with the bankruptcy and social crisis of an entire country behind him, could have had such an idea: treat your patients and get paid if they have money, otherwise do it for free.

Behind the ancient port of the city, the Mandraccio, from the Arabic, “shelter where you can stop safely", Dr. Dessypris, has opened a practice with the proud title of social dentist. The sign reads: "Fees are based on the patient's need."

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NICOLAS DESSYPRIS

In his suitcase, the doctor brings with him the desire to treat everyone, without distinction, and a certain compassionate and altruistic approach that is like the courage of Manzoni's novel. And perhaps, to embark on such an undertaking, courage is needed. First, to challenge the cynicism and blindness of Italian bureaucracy, which, among other things, asks him for €2000 to install a sign promoting this initiative. Second, to deal with difficult, often heartbreaking life stories, with medical malpractice, hardship, and debt behind them. Like a young 35-year-old mother, who comes to the doctor with a tragic situation, confesses that she thought of her children first and her treatment second, and that she can't afford a "normal" fee. And so, with love and patience, Dessypris fixes her mouth, not asking for a penny, as he does for a pensioner who was the victim of medical malpractice that had caused her to suffer from trigeminal nerve hemiparalysis. After eight years of pain and €30,000 spent, she turned to Nicolas Dessypris, complaining that she wasn't even believed and declaring that she had spent everything on treatment with no results. Or like the many migrants or poor people sent to him by the associations that care for them. In Dessyprys's office, no one is turned away; no one is a foreigner. If a patient needs particularly expensive dental care, such as implants and dentures, they contact their doctor and submit their tax return. At that point, the downward estimate mechanism kicks in.Those earning less than €6 a year pay half the list price for various treatments. Those earning less than €10 receive a 40 percent discount, which increases to 30 percent for those earning up to €15.

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DENTIST AT AFFORDABLE PRICES

The "social dentist" says: "Associations often send me people with toothache. If you come here, you're sick and you can't pay, what do I do? Send you away? Of course not. In the meantime, I'll make the pain go away, then I hope you appreciate my effort and come back to treat them." teeth even when you're not in an emergency." And then, again, he confesses his anger in discovering that his colleagues are joining this initiative there are only 5, on a national scale. A dentist in Milan, one in Tuscany, one in southern Italy, and a colleague from Genoa. Of the 5000 doctors who responded in 2009 to the Ministry of Health and the National Association of Dentists (ANDI)'s call for a social price list for dentists, in an effort to ensure care for all, all trace has disappeared.And, not without bitterness, Dessypris notes that his other colleagues are less interested in helping others, perhaps because the money he earns with his low-cost services is money that, according to the price list, would normally be earned in half the time. At this point in our story, courage and altruism return, qualities that are needed to keep the practice open every day, arriving at 9 in the morning and leaving at 8 in the evening, to deal with the average 10 requests a day that the social dentist receives from all over the country.

Knowing he's the first, and one of the few, to do good for others without worrying only about his own pocketbook, because, as he tells us, "If I were an ordinary dentist, I'd have an expensive car, but instead I have one from twenty years ago. And cars are for getting around, not as a status symbol." Never forgetting his sacrifices and his roots, he embraces that retro motto: “to each according to their needs, from each according to their possibilities.”

(In the cover image, Dr. Nicolas Dessypris - Image source: Dentistasociale.com)

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