When Pain Becomes the Path to Healing

What can painful moments teach us about hope?

I’ve always hated going to the dentist. On my very first visit, at just five years old, I bit the dentist’s fingers. Back then, dentists would give you a jelly bean on the way out—but I can assure you, I didn’t get one that day.

Our painting today is The Dentist, painted in 1622.

In those days, the local barber was usually your dentist too. You’d go in for a trim, and out came the pliers. The artist Gerard van Honthorst gives us a vivid scene—a bright light shining directly into the patient’s mouth as the dentist carefully pulls out a tooth.

What’s fascinating is how many paintings from that era show the same scene.

In one, a man clutches his rosary beads, desperately trying to get through the trauma. Another, also by Honthorst and now hanging in the Louvre, is just as dramatic. Then there’s a version by Caravaggio, where the woman watching looks like she’s already lost all her teeth.

But two things always stand out:

First, the dentist seems to enjoy it a little too much. He wears a grin—maybe even a smirk—as he works.

Second, these tooth-pulling scenes appear to be public events. Forget going to the movies—this was entertainment. People gathered to watch the agony unfold.

And the patient? He’s in obvious pain. There were no anaesthetics back then. Someone had to physically hold him down to keep him from jumping out of the chair.

So what’s the message behind these paintings?

Sometimes, we have to endure short-term pain to be freed from something worse. As the Bible says:

“Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will reveal to us later.” — Romans 8:18

In other words: bad short-term, good long-term.

You may be going through pain right now. But from what I’ve seen, God has a way of bringing good out of even the worst situations. And whatever suffering we face now—it’s nothing compared to the joy and glory we’ll experience in heaven.

Artist	Gerard van Honthorst
Title	The Dentist
Production	1622
Material	Oil on Canvas
Dimensions	219 x 147 cm
Exhibit Location	Dresden, Germany
Accession Number	Gal.-Nr. 1251
Credit Line
Image Credit	Wikimedia Commons

Written by Dr. Neale Schofield

When Pain Becomes the Path to Healing

What can painful moments teach us about hope?

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