Help Gary Smile and Volunteer!

My name is Gary, and as a child I learned I should always smile with my mouth closed.

I have a condition called oligodontia, also known as tooth agenesis. As a child, only 14 of my adult teeth grew in. (Until starting this process I still had many of my baby teeth, because no new teeth ever pushed them out.)


Thanks to my GoFundMe donors and my family, I've now completed a three-phase, two-year process of receiving dental implants from an oral surgeon in San Jose, Costa Rica!


To sweeten the deal for this GoFundMe campaign, I offered to volunteer my time with local non-profit organizations. In total, I completed 700 sponsored volunteer hours with Eighth Day Farm, Urban Roots, 3sixty, Community Action House, the Holland Symphony, Washington School Neighbors, Hope Church, and most recently the Rogers City Community Theatre. I logged my volunteer hours on a publicly-viewable Google Doc.

Thank you all so much for helping me to transform my smile! These new zirconium and titanium teeth should last me the rest of my life, and every time I smile in the decades to come (with my natural smile; that is, the uninhibited facial expression of joy), my community of support will be smiling through me. Every time I chew, I will know my body lives by the generosity of my community.