On the morning of June 22, Noah Merfeld, 25, leaned back in a dental chair at Belmont Oral Surgery & Dental Implants. Hooked up to monitors and numbed with lidocaine, he prepared for a procedure that was a long time coming: wisdom teeth removal surgery.
The operation was the culmination of the inaugural Wisdom for Wisdom campaign through the dental practice. The program provides one local college student with a free surgery, freeing up that money for tuition payments, textbooks, and other needs throughout the school year.
Removal of wisdom teeth varies in cost based on the degree of impaction (whether the wisdom tooth is stuck under the gums or jawbone), the number of teeth that need to be removed, whether there is an infection, and more. Merfeld had multiple cavities in his teeth and needed all four removed.
The surgery would have cost Merfeld about $4,000, according to Belmont Oral Surgery & Dental Implants owner Dr. Pasquale Eckert, who performed the surgery and is the architect behind the practice’s Wisdom for Wisdom campaign. This year, the practice received a handful of applicants, Eckert said, but they expect more next year.
The First Winner
Merfeld, who grew up in Belmont, filled out the online application for the free surgery after his grandmother, Bonnie Friedman, learned about it at Town Day in May. He didn’t think he was going to be picked, but he figured he would try.
Then, Merfeld got a call from Eckert.
“I was like, ‘No way, this is crazy,’” Merfeld said.
The practice selected Merfeld because of his commitment to giving back to his community. Merfeld, who is considering a career in teaching, counseling or therapy, wants to give back to the community by supporting the educational and emotional needs of its youngest members.
“By investing in [Merfeld], we’re investing in our friends and our neighbors and family in the area,” Eckert said.
College for Merfeld, like so many other students during the tumultuous COVID years, has been a long, difficult journey. When Merfeld graduated from Belmont High School in 2019, he enrolled at Merrimack College as an accounting major. Then, the world shut down.
“I really had a lot of momentum going until I could no longer see my friends or anybody,” he said.
Merfeld has since attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Massachusetts Bay Community College. He’s transitioned to a human service field. And he’s grown from all the challenges of that time. He is excited to graduate and move on, but getting the teeth out was a great feeling — a feeling of accomplishment, Merfeld said.
“It’s also really fun to see how excited he was that he won the [surgery],” Friedman said about her grandson. She knows that Merfeld would have always ended up receiving the surgery. “It’s just kind of nice to celebrate it this way,” she said.
More To Come From The Practice
Eckert hopes to continue the campaign and create others to give back to Belmont and surrounding areas. Belmont Oral Surgery & Dental Implants has long been a community staple — Eckert’s father started the practice 39 years ago with the hope of giving back to the Belmont community by treating police officers, firefighters and EMTs in town at no cost. When Eckert bought the practice from his father two years ago, he saw an opportunity to expand that giving spirit. In 2025, Eckert started the Second Chance campaign.
“We gave somebody a $50,000 smile makeover and that was certainly life-changing for him,” Eckert said.
Moving forward, Eckert is planning a partnership with local schools where he and a panel of other health care providers will talk about their career paths.
