"By the way, my dentist is in the congregation"

By Simon Jenkins

Dr Stephen Wood, a medical doctor in private practice in Wells, gave the following telephone interview to Ship of Fools yesterday, 20th April. We believe it to be a significant first-hand account of the 'gold filling' phenomenon, partly because Dr Wood's dentist was on hand to give an immediate opinion. Dr Wood has no immediate plans to check his dental records because they are kept in Dorset.

On Tuesday last week, there was a meeting in Bath with John Arnott, the Toronto Airport pastor, and his wife Carol. They were there for what was called a 'Catch the Fire' conference. On the Saturday night he told us how back in Toronto there were people who had experienced these gold fillings – how the normal amalgam fillings, which are fairly black, had turned bright and silver, as if the mercury had been extracted from them. And one or two people had also had gold teeth.

In fact, we had someone who came back from a conference in Toronto recently, who had also experienced this, and she had given testimony about what had happened there.

How did you feel about this phenomenon – hearing these stories?

I was very interested. I am a firm believer that God heals today. Some years ago I heard that some fairly miraculous things like this had happened in Africa, and I understood more recently that it has been reported in South America. But certainly it's been a completely new thing at the Toronto Vineyard church. I must admit that I find it somewhat strange that God is giving people gold fillings. If God is doing anything, it would be nice to have brand new teeth!

Yes, why not go the whole hog?

So John Arnott was sharing on this and he said: 'Well, I don't understand it either, but it's something that is clearly happening among us. I'm not God, I can't explain it all, but in some cases it might be the Lord taking the toxic mercury out of people's mouths, and in other cases putting some of his glory in their mouths (i.e. the gold). But I don't really know. I don't have an explanation for it. But I'd just like to pray for people, that they could receive some touch on their mouths from the Lord.'

He then encouraged people to put their hands on their jaws while he prayed. Then my wife, who I would say is a bit of a dental disaster – she has a mouthful of fillings – said to me, 'Have a look in my mouth. See if there are any changes.'

So I duly had a peer at her teeth, and they were as black as usual, with all the fillings that she's got. There was no change that I could observe there at all. So she said, 'Well let me have a look at you.'

Immediately I opened my mouth, she exclaimed: 'You've got a gold crown up at the top!'

I thought: is she looking at the gold bridge that I've got? But the gold bridge is on the opposite side on the lower jaw. And that certainly is still there. But on my upper jaw, there's this complete gold crown on my tooth. All the people around me were quite stirred by this and said, 'Go up on the stage and tell John!'

So I went up there and said to John, 'Look, I've got a gold tooth capped.' And then I said, 'By the way, my dentist is in the congregation.'

To get the record straight, he was my dentist up to 12 months ago. He's now come out of private dentistry and is working for the community health people. But I've not been to a dentist since I came off his books. So he was in the congregation, I'd met him just before the meeting.

So John said, 'Where are you? Come on up and have a look at this guy's teeth!'

So he came up. He remembered the gold bridge that he had done. Then he looked at this tooth and said: 'That's pure gold! There's no question about that – that is gold.' He was really surprised.

Had he done it? Had he put it there?

No. Although he had to say, 'Obviously I can't remember the full details of Stephen's records out of all my patients.'

But he had no recollection of having done it at all, and my wife has certainly never seen that before, and I have no recollection of a gold crown either.

So that was basically the story. They stuck a television camera more or less in my mouth and apparently it was all up on screen, but I couldn't see that. And it's certainly still there for all to see.

How did the people react when your dentist confirmed it?

They were fairly wild with enthusiasm! There was a great deal of applause going on.

Did the leaders encourage you to go and check your dental records?

No, they haven't at the moment. I haven't done that because I haven't been to see the dentist. My wife and I are more or less 100 per cent certain that it wasn't there before.

Is it being claimed as a miracle?

Well I guess it is. It is a miracle if one of your crowns turns to gold, it has to be a miracle, doesn't it?

Was there a crown there before?

Yes there was just an ordinary crown there before. Last Sunday morning, a dental technician who is in our church asked if he could take a look at my gold crown. I showed him, and he said, 'That's remarkable. The quality of workmanship is exceptional.' And he should know. Dental technicians actually make crowns like this.

What do you make of it? Why would God do this?

I don't know. My experience of the Lord is that he's out to bless his children. I don't see a problem with that. I have no explanation why it should be gold in my mouth rather than a new tooth – which would seem to me the most natural thing if you were going to receive a healing or some remarkable miracle from the Lord. I don't know. But if I did, I'd be God. So yes, I think one has to claim it as a miracle, if you want to use that term.

People said, 'Did you feel anything?' And I had to say, no I didn't. I can't say that I was full of great faith that I was going to receive this thing. My feeling is that if the Lord's going to do anything, I'm very happy to receive it. I'm not switched off, I'm not sceptical. But on the other hand, I can't say I was desperate for a gold crown, or desperate to have attention to my teeth, because generally my teeth are pretty good. If the Lord had asked me, there might have been one or two other things I'd have asked for.

Such as...?

Well, a new set of teeth, if it had to be a dental miracle, or a nice new spine, I would think.

You have back problems?

I do from time to time, and I'm conscious that with my age that my neck isn't all that it should be. I do have problems with my back and neck occasionally, and I think, well, OK, if there's anything new going, I think I'd opt for a new spine. Or perhaps new hair, or something!

© Ship of Fools 1999