James Rolfe, an 85-year-old dentist, just returned home from Palestine. On the West Bank, he made do with half his usual tools on teeth in much worse condition than he might see at his 24-hour practice in Santa Barbara .
It’s not the first time he’s gone on such a mission — in the past, he’s used his clinic’s profits to treat dental ailments and train new clinicians in war-torn Afghanistan — but this was no less jarring.
Before he left for the Middle East last month , Rolfe said he was curious about the conditions there, having followed the increasingly hostile Israel–Palestine conflict in the news.