Teaneck dentist fixes teeth, raises smiles in Southeast Asia

Dr. Harry Harcsztark, in Cambodia during a five-month humanitarian medical mission, with one of the young children, who 'were our best patients.'

Monday, September 27, 2010
BY SACHI FUJIMORI
The Record (New Jersey, USA)
STAFF WRITER
In a makeshift dental clinic in Cambodia, set up in a school next to a monastery, where chickens ran free and a six-foot-long pig slept all day, a monk sat down in Dr. Harry Harcsztark's operating chair — actually a folding chair. The crimson-robed holy man refused any anesthesia, as Harcsztark, a dentist from Teaneck with a practice in Kearny, went to work extracting his broken and rotted teeth. "This guy had to be in a lot of pain," said Harcsztark. "He was very stoic and sat there, typical of a monk."

Harcsztark, who has a gentle manner and looks like the trimmer brother of the actor Danny DeVito, wanted to make this monk smile, the way he can with most of the patients he's seen over his more than three decades in practice. "We couldn't get him to smile or laugh. I told my translators to tell a joke," said the dentist.

At the end of the procedure, Harcsztark, sweating through his uniform in the 100-degree heat, posed for a picture with the monk, who let out a half-smile. "He was very appreciative," said Harcsztark.