Long Islanders help S.C. military mom allay dental pain

Bonnie Hoagland is never without the five dog tags that hang around her neck like talismans: One for her husband, the others for each of her four sons. All five are in the military and have served simultaneously in Afghanistan.

Now her husband, Michael Hoagland, and one son are in Afghanistan, and the others are stationed on National Guard and Army bases. Hoagland and her daughter, Rachel Moss, 16, are the only ones living at their Chester, S.C., home.

After hearing the family's story during a taping of a talk show in Manhattan, Melville businessman Norman Oberlander was inspired to help. He arranged for Hoagland and her daughter to fly to Long Island to receive free dental work.

On Monday, Hoagland sat in Dr. Steve Mitgang's dental office in Islandia, where she underwent two root canals. Rachel got a cleaning, whitening, and a night guard.

"It's been a miracle for me," Hoagland said.

She had been in pain since she cracked a molar while eating a corn chip two years ago. But, unemployed, she was unable to afford the insurance deductible of several thousand dollars in her husband's policy.

Oberlander, owner of the advertising agency Zip Productions, arranged for local businesses to donate a hotel room, rental car, dental work and other expenses during the pair's weeklong stay.

The family is "putting themselves in harm's way for me," said Oberlander, who said he plans to start a nonprofit to help other families in similar situations.

Hoagland, who will return to Mitgang's Exceldent office to finish the roughly $8,000 worth of dental work Thursday, said she's humbled by the effort.

If all goes according to plan, she said, all five of her soldiers will be back in Chester in time for Christmas - but in 2012, she expects them all to be back in Afghanistan. Michael Hoagland was deployed five days after their wedding in 2003.

"It takes a lot to be a military wife and mother, it really does," she said. "When they're gone, it really is hard on us, as it is on them - except we're not being shot at."

Hoagland said she hopes that she won't have to add another dog tag to her necklace. She's worried that her only daughter will ask her to sign consent papers to enlist when she's 17, as her brothers did.

"She's spoken of joining several times. I just told her she's going to need to wait until she's 18," Hoagland said. "If she does it, it'll be on her own. I've given about all I can give."