His smile was nervous, his every step taken with trepidation.
But he slowly lugged his body into the seat, leaned back and took a deep breath.
"So how can we help you today?" the masked woman asked him, peering through her magnified glasses.
Through an interpreter he said softly, his teeth and roots hurt, he'd been in pain.
It's been a long time between dental visits for refugee Feda Mohammad.
He arrived here 18 months ago from Afghanistan, and his last visit to a dentist was a good three years before he fled.
Now he was getting a 45-minute appointment with a top Auckland dentist, for free.
He was invited to the make-shift dental clinic, in Grace City Church, by Trinity Koha and Family Teeth Matters, who have joined forces to help refugees, the homeless, and the financially challenged in desperate dental need. No charge, just the expert work of dentists and hygienists, volunteering their time.
"Unfortunately, the ones rotted down to the gumlines are unsavable," the dentist told him after an inspection. "I need to take an X-ray."
This revealed three rotten roots and one rotten tooth, which needed to be extracted immediately.
An injection, filled with local anesthesia, was slowly released into his upper gums.
"So, I'm going to put some local on his palette, when it goes in it does feel sharp," his interpreter was told.
Minutes later, the tooth is cleanly extracted. It's swift and pain-free. Feda immediately smiled, relief on his face. Back home, he said, in Afghanistan, pain relief is not always given for a tooth extraction.
"How are you feeling at the moment?" Newshub asked him.
"Good, good thank you," he smiled from the dentist's chair.
"Any pain?" He paused, and his smile widened. "No," he said.
Upstairs, his wife Nazifa was treated first by a dental hygienist.
She has gum disease, an infection and also needs a tooth removed. It's all taken care of onsite, with no charge.
Her teeth were cleaned and flossed, and she was given a lesson on the best way to brush and the importance of cutting back on sugar.
Through her interpreter, she said: "Because of the financial hardship, this is a very significant thing to do, so I am very grateful to be here and get this done for free, I am very grateful."
Two week-long free dental clinics are being held this month, both in Auckland. Each appointment is about 45 minutes. Each patient has been carefully selected for their urgent dental need.
"These clinics are amazing, a little bit of a miracle I have to say," said Cynthia Walbridge, a dental hygienist with Family Teeth Matters.
"The main reason why children are going to hospital today is through dental issues. This is all preventable. That's my passion is to see these families changing here in New Zealand, so this doesn't happen to them."
The first-ever clinic was held on a ship, now it's shipping containers on land. In the past two years more than 2800 patients have been treated, and more than $1.7 million in treatment given for free.
"Many times, we are dealing with people who are afraid, so we are providing a service of kindness and compassion," said Sue Cole, a retired dentist, who is the Trinity Koha team leader.
"We provide not a hand-out to our patients but a hand-up, so they are able to get a job, to be able to eat an apple, to be able to smile again."
By the month's end, another 270 people in need will have been helped. For many, they'll finally be pain-free. And it's all for free.
