A West Palm Beach dental office specializing in root canals lost power right before they started drilling Wednesday morning. The office says power, ever since Irma, has been fluctuating.
Endodontic Associates of the Palm Beaches called NewsChannel 5 after they thought Florida Power and Light wasn’t doing enough to get the power back on.
The day at the dental practice started as it usually does. First patients of the morning in the chairs, given their gum numbing injections right before drilling begins.
“Once you make it through there, you’re like, ‘it’s over, I’m done,’” said Dr. Rory Mortman, one of the several endodontists at the practice. “And then the lights go out.”
Dr. Rory Mortman and the staff put the drills away, and took the generator out. It provided enough power to call FPL and cancel appointments.
“The people that are really hurting are coming in later,” Dr. Mortman said. But he didn’t know for sure.
By the time we showed up late in the afternoon they were still in the dark. Something they had gotten used to since Irma.
“We came back to a lot of power fluctuations, a lot of surges,” he said.
Looking for answers, we put a call into FPL. By the time we left the practice, hope showed up.
“We feel like we were really getting the run around and we call you guys, and as soon as you show up 5 minutes, they’re here. Yeah, right over here,” Dr. Mortman said, pointing over his shoulder to the FPL truck on the block.
And a couple hours later, relief.
“Really big time. Pain went to my tooth...it was very bad pain and ever since it’s just been pretty bad,” said 19-year-old Brandon Weatherford, who flew in from the Bahamas for a double root canal. He’ll make his flight home tomorrow morning.
“Have to get it done tonight or else...I don’t know. Would have been tough,” he said preparing for the procedure in the dental chair.
And a happy Dr. Mortman.
“Very nice people,” he said. “Good crew that (FPL) sent out. So we’re very excited. And we get to take care of our patient tonight.
An FPL spokesman said an underground line was the problem. The spokesman said it’s possible Irma is to blame, what they said could be ‘indirect effects’ from a major hurricane.