ROCKY MOUNT — One of the patients the Free Clinic of Franklin County sent to Dr. Brian Alexander had a hole in the roof of her mouth.
A dentist, Alexander has cared for dozens of low-income patients referred to him by the free clinic over the last several years.
But that woman’s case stands out in his memory.
She had been living that way for years. Some sort of disease, likely cancer, had eaten away at the tissue on the roof of her mouth. He could see straight up through to her nose. She used to try to cover it with a sheet of aluminum foil when she ate, until Alexander fashioned her a denture that fit over the opening.