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Desperate circumstances require desperate measures.

That's the plight of a Vernon father of four who is trying to raise money for his wife Crystal who desperately needs surgery on her teeth.

Richard Ferguson launched a multi-media campaign yesterday (Wednesday) hoping to raise $10,000 by doing 10,000 push ups.

The money will go towards paying for the surgeries not covered through provincial health care.

Ferguson says issues with his wife's teeth began arising several months ago when Crystal was pregnant with their last child.

"Due to a calcium deficiency during her last pregnancy her teeth are slowly rotting," says Ferguson.

"It 's not an uncommon thing for a lot of women during pregnancy to have their body stripped of calcium."

Ferguson says Crystal didn't have too many problems with her teeth during her first pregnancy, however, this last time, "her teeth started to deteriorate."

"The dentist wouldn't work on her teeth and try to save them during the pregnancy because of the stress it would create on her body and because she needs to go under general anesthetic to get it done.

They don't like to put women under when they are pregnant."

Over the last six months, Ferguson says at least five or six teeth of his wife's teeth have broken.

"Two weeks ago she had a tooth break into three pieces that sharded up and down while she was eating," says Ferguson.

"A month before that about half a tooth broke right off the side. It's ridiculous how fast her teeth are falling apart."

Ferguson says Crystal needs a minimum of 10 teeth pulled and, once that happens, they will know how many more need to come out and whether they can be saved.

"We tried getting help but the government doesn't give assistance with dental work. We've tried churches and community dental in Vernon, but they don't do anything major'" says Ferguson.

"She needs to see an oral surgeon for a lot of it."

He says the dentists want cash up front and won't do it over the course of a payment schedule.

In order to get the money to help his wife, Ferguson started the push up campaign.

He has raised $700 so far.

Ferguson has been doing the push ups at home, documenting them and posting the videos on his You Tube channel.

He hopes to take his campaign on the road to various locations around Vernon to drum up support.

Click here to view Ferguson's campaign on Indiegogo.