Aurea has been dealing with messed-up teeth since she was a teenager—crooked, malformed, always causing problems. It's not just about looks; it's constant pain that makes eating hurt, makes her anxious about being around people, and her clinical anxiety is so bad she can't even go to the dentist without being knocked out completely with general anesthesia. She can't hold down a regular job because of it. Right now, she's stuck eating only soft stuff like soup, yogurt, or mashed potatoes, and even then she has to go super slow because any chewing sends sharp pain through her jaw and bones.

This has been going on for years, and as her husband for almost 18 years, I've tried everything to fix it. We've spent every extra dollar we had on dental work that only patched things up for a little while—never a real solution. Insurance barely covers anything major, and the full fix (surgery, bone grafts, replacing everything) has always been way too expensive. It's incredibly frustrating to watch her suffer like this and feel like we're just stuck no matter what we do.

We recently had to switch from Lasting Smiles to Dental Excellence because we couldn't swing the full plan at the first place. Your donations so far let us get the diagnoses, X-rays, and antibiotics we needed to figure out the right dentist and plan. Seriously, thank you—that progress only happened because of you guys.

The urgent stuff now is a deep cleaning to get rid of all the built-up tartar and plaque that's feeding the infection and pain, plus pulling several bad teeth and doing two fillings. That should stop the worst of the pain and let her eat without wincing. But because of her anxiety, she needs general anesthesia for any of it—she has to be asleep the whole time.

Our dental insurance and Sunbit credit cover the actual dental work. The problem is the anesthesia is from a separate company that doesn't take insurance or credit. We need $2,250 out of pocket for three hours of it so they can knock her out and do as much as possible in one go: the cleaning, extractions, and fillings. We're really hoping they can get it all done in that first session to give her quick relief, but if not, it might mean extra appointments and more money.

It's exhausting and heartbreaking seeing her in pain every single day. She just wants to eat a normal meal without hurting, to stop hiding her smile, to feel like herself again. Imagine her being able to laugh with friends, take family photos without feeling embarrassed, or just enjoy food like everyone else does.

I'm asking straight up: if you can help with even a little toward that $2,250, it would mean the world. Sharing this GoFundMe helps too—every bit gets us closer. We've been so grateful for the support already, and I'll keep posting updates so you know exactly how it's going.

Thanks for reading this and for caring. We just want to get her out of this pain and give her a real shot at feeling good again.