Dentist Extracts Kirov Dancer’s Tooth, 2 Tickets

The call that came to the office of Santa Ana dentist Stuart Green sounded quite ordinary. Somebody had chipped a tooth and needed immediate medical attention.

To Green’s surprise, that somebody turned out to be Yulia Makhalina, a 21-year-old prima ballerina of the Soviet Union’s Kirov Ballet appearing at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

“I offered to do it for free,” Green said, recalling the surprise visit a week ago. But when Makhalina persisted in asking what she owed the dentist, Green thought of his daughter, who is studying ballet, and piped up, “How about two tickets to the ballet?”

And so Saturday night, 6-year-old Janae Green put on her favorite black velvet dress and went backstage before the Kirov’s performance to present Makhalina with a bouquet of roses before settling into a choice seat beside her mother.

“I’ve never been to the ballet before,” a wide-eyed Janae marveled.

Janae has been a ballet student for 2 1/2 years and said she wants to be a dancer when she grows up. “I’m very excited,” she said about attending the performance.

Stuart Green also went to the Saturday night show, but sat in another section of the hall with his 9-year-old son. “I didn’t feel right asking for four tickets,” he said a little sheepishly.

Although Green was impressed by Makhalina’s graciousness, treating the ballerina made him wonder about Soviet dental practices. After examining her, he recommended that Makhalina’s tooth be removed or that she undergo extensive dental work.

“She just said, ‘Take out the broken part of the tooth,’ ” Green said.

And Makhalina refused an anesthetic.

“I said, ‘You want me to cut out that broken tooth and not numb you?’ and she said ‘Yes,’ ” Green recounted. “She just sat there. The only words she spoke the whole time were, ‘Thank you.’ ”

Makhalina’s interpreter explained that in the Soviet Union, dentists use somewhat primitive methods distrusted by patients.

“I like the Russian people,” Green said, “but their dentistry is from the 1940s.”