Marquez grasps the queer nature of medical power in this tale of manipulation,although in this case it is on dental procedures. There is juxtaposition between AurelioEscovar and the Mayor. Aurelio Escovar, the dentist, which is a powerless man in this town, not wealthy and his office is dirty and haplessly supplied with medication andapparatus. The Mayor, which is the patient is seemingly corrupt, murderous andabusive in his political power. The Mayor is obviously abusive in his power becauseonce he knew that the dentist refuses to do the job, he immediately threatened to shoothim. He was also corrupt because he was claiming that he and the town is the samething. So from that statement it shows that the Mayor is claiming that the town includingits people was owned by him and therefore can be controlled by him
In the story, the tooth infection alters the whole hierarchy of power, placing theMayor at the dentist’s mercy. The power is profound, but temporary, for we can see inthe story that Aurelio Escovar was able to temporarily destroy the Mayor’s pride andarrogance by letting the Mayor suffer but as soon as Escovar has removed the tooth,the mayor is released from him--looking at the extracted tooth, the mayor "failed tounderstand his torture of the five previous nights"--and when he leaves, the mayor reiterates that he and the town are "the same thing," that his power extends beyondhimself. Nonetheless, we are left with a strong reminder of the democracy of at leastsome kinds of bodily suffering, and of the access this gives the medical professions toan extraordinary kind of control over the experiences of others.The Dentist was not able to refuse the treatment not because the mayor threatens to shoot him, but simply because he decides professionally. The dentist wasable to discover his control over the situation because if it is about dental treatment, heis more knowledgeable than the Mayor, thus the Mayor could not easily oppose towhatever the dentist demands since the mayor badly needs the treatment.