Dentists were in abundance at Gloucester High School Saturday at the third annual Mission of Mercy free dental clinic, coordinated by Gloucester dentist Dr. Charles Harris and his staff and sponsored by the Gloucester-Mathews Free Clinic with the assistance of the Virginia Dental Association.

Kelly Cooper, who coordinated the project, said that around 550 patients were seen on Saturday, including providing 55 people with dentures.

The high school gym was filled with rows and rows of tables lined up end to end. Dental chairs and lamps were spaced neatly along both sides of the tables, and supplies were within easy reach. At one station, a man was getting stitches; at another, a nervous patient tightly clenched his hands. At many of the stations, patients were getting their teeth cleaned.

Along the walls were plastic tubs filled with instruments, oral rinse, bottles of saline, ibuprofen and other supplies.

There was a steady murmur of dentists and hygienists talking calmly to p...