A Dental Student's Mission Trip to India Changed How He Sees Medicine | Heartwise
Jake Marcum grew up watching his dad, Dr. Marcum, care for patients — and assumed he'd follow him into cardiology. Instead he found his own path in dentistry, and this summer that path took him to Delhi, India, where he spent his days in a 105-degree upstairs room with no AC, pulling teeth for children and adults who had lived with pain for years.
In this conversation Jake talks about what it's like to treat patients through a translator, why some families refused care over myths about going blind, the connection between oral health and systemic disease like heart disease and diabetes, and the man whose hour-long extraction ended with him coming back two hours later just to smile and say thank you. He also shares the verse that shaped the trip — 1 Peter 4:10 — and the line a mentor told him in college that he can't shake: you may be the only Bible someone ever reads.
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If you've ever wondered whether your work and your faith belong in the same sentence, this one's for you.
Chapters:
0:00 Welcome to Heartwise
0:55 Meet Jake Marcum, third-year dental student
1:34 Growing up watching his dad practice medicine
2:28 Why he chose dentistry over cardiology
3:33 The moment he fell in love with the work
4:40 "For the longest time, I hated my smile"
5:35 Mission of Mercy: a free dental clinic in Memphis
7:03 The invitation to India
8:08 1 Peter 4:10 and the call to serve
9:27 "You may be the only Bible someone ever reads"
11:04 First impressions of Delhi
12:36 Seeing the slums for the first time
13:57 Inside the clinic: 105 degrees, no AC
15:17 "If you pull my tooth, I'm going to go blind"
17:20 Treating children who were already in pain
18:00 An hour-long extraction, and the tears
19:21 Two hours later, he came back smiling
20:38 What your mouth says about your whole body
21:46 Why saving a child's tooth matters
22:45 A rare case he'd only read about in class
24:23 The hardest moment of the trip
26:14 "I want to go back"
28:22 Romans 12 and the gift of service
30:21 The
