Mr. Rapchik had to rent an airplane and fly to Madagascar, where a dentist who spoke no English fitted him with a temporary denture made of something no longer used in America - gutta-percha.

Instead of placing circumdental wires around the teeth, existing dentures can be left in (or Gunning splints, a type of temporary denture) and the mandible fixated to the maxilla using skeletal fixation (circummandibular and circumzygomatic wires) or using MMF bone screws.