Biden postpones NATO chief’s assembly after root canal remedy

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden postponed a gathering with the NATO chief and skipped his different public occasions on Monday to endure a second root canal in as many days, the White Home mentioned.

“The president is ok and will definitely be working at his residence this afternoon,” press secretary Karen Jean-Pierre mentioned after remedy on the White Home.

Biden reported a toothache Sunday, prompting a staff from Walter Reed Nationwide Army Medical Heart to carry out an X-ray and root canal remedy, in keeping with a letter from his physician circulated to the press.

“The president tolerated the process very nicely,” physician Kevin O’Connor wrote of the beforehand undisclosed remedy. “There have been no issues.”

The White Home mentioned Biden, 80, skilled extra ache on Monday, acquired native anesthesia and didn’t must switch his powers to Vice President Kamala Harris underneath the twenty fifth Modification to the US Structure.

Root canal procedures are fashionable for treating contaminated tooth which can be inflicting ache, particularly for older folks, mentioned Asgir Sigurdsson, MD, chief of endodontics on the New York College College of Dentistry. He mentioned that performances by thousands and thousands are staged annually in the USA with a near-universal success price.

Sigurdsson mentioned that generally two or extra procedures are required to take away broken tooth tissue and absolutely resolve the issue. The native anesthesia used to numb the ache through the process could make it tough to talk for just a few hours afterward.

“When you deal with it correctly, it’ll heal with none issues,” Sigurdsson mentioned.

Biden beforehand underwent root canal procedures within the Nineteen Nineties, as a senator overseeing affirmation hearings for present Supreme Courtroom Justice Clarence Thomas.

Biden is the oldest particular person to function president of the USA, and each his age and well being have been a spotlight of voters as he plans to hunt a second four-year time period within the 2024 election.

Heating up the seek for NATO leaders

A gathering with NATO Secretary Normal Jens Stoltenberg and a reception for diplomatic employees have been rescheduled for Tuesday. Harris attended an occasion celebrating school athletes, and made no point out of Biden’s absence.

The US-led NATO seek for a successor to Stoltenberg has been heating up with a number of potential candidates from Europe because the army alliance helps Ukraine, which isn’t a NATO member, in its response to the Russian invasion.

Biden has not but recognized a identified choice, in keeping with an individual conversant in the matter.

Stoltenberg is because of step down on the finish of September after 9 years within the job.

Any new NATO chief must steadiness members’ unified assist for Ukraine whereas guarding towards any developments that might ship the group instantly into conflict with Russia.

NATO’s common secretaries are usually appointed via a consensus-oriented course of, involving all 31 members of the group. America workout routines monumental affect in all NATO choices, with explicit regard to Biden’s views.

(Reporting by Trevor Honeycutt). Extra reporting by Tyler Clifford and Doina Chiacco. Modifying by Jonathan Otis and Grant McCall

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