ORLANDO, Fla. — This week’s Everyday Hero is a local dentist who volunteered to help a local student fix a painful problem.

High school senior Dayron Rojas had a wisdom tooth in a part of his mouth where it shouldn’t be — and he couldn’t afford to get it fixed.

Rojas’s wisdom tooth had pushed into his sinus as well as created some other complications.

“A normal wisdom tooth is back here, but now, it's right up here,” Dr. Matthew Hall explained.

Rojas said it was painful.

“It kinda felt like something was pushing out, trying to get out of my face,” he said.

Paying to get the tooth removed and even getting to yet another emergency room was not an option for Rojas, who is from a low-imcome community.

“How are we going to get there?” Rojas said. “We don't have a car.”

That was a very trying period, until the high school senior met with a school adviser to talk about college.

“She asked me, how am I doing,” Rojas said. “And at that point, I just broke down.”

The teen found his way to Grace Medical Home in Orlando. Hall volunteered to serve as dental director at Grace when it opened in 2019, after he already had retired earned a law degree.  

Hall ensured that Rojas got his gnarly tooth and sinus issues fixed.

The cost? Nothing.

“It just felt like a dream,” Rojas said. “It felt like this huge heaviness that was on my heart, on our hearts, was lifted.”

Hall, when not doing an ironman challenge in his 70s, treats the poor and uninsured.

“What I like is a higher calling,” Hall said. “I know that's the mission of Grace, using your expertise to help somebody in need, but without asking for anything in return.”

Hall said he doesn’t need to be recognized.

“It's my own soul that feels at peace,” Hall said.