As most of you know, I've been on a sobriety journey the last 14ish months after about 9 years of addiction. My teeth had already been a problem since my early teens, but I was able to keep them mostly together for a long time with the support of my parents and a few good dentists that cared. But the longer I used, the more I fell off with everything involved in taking care of myself, and my teeth have taken the brunt of that abuse.

Now that there's pretty much nothing left in there but roots and a few stumps, I can still eat but with great difficulty, and it's been ages since I've eaten cereal without letting it get soggy first, or bitten into anything firmer than a banana. I also haven't smiled with my mouth open or laughed freely without covering my mouth or turning away from people in several years. I hate most photos of myself and looking at my face in the mirror because my cheeks are have begun collapsing in and it makes me look....like an addict.

I've known for awhile that my teeth need a complete overhaul, which is why I've been aggressively saving as much as I can since I got clean and started working again. Within the first week of my being allowed to work (about 3 months into treatment) I had a job and was working as much as my program allowed, and I've upgraded jobs twice since then. That's only one of the many ways in which I've been working to repair the damage I allowed addiction to have on all corners of my life, but now I've reached a point where I could use a little help!

On March 19th I had a consultation with an amazing dentist at a place called The Smile Mission in Sarasota, FL who's given me hope that I can actually get my smile back without having to travel to some foreign country to do it. I'll be having all remaining teeth extracted and being fitted with overdentures, which are removable snap-in dentures fixed on top of 4-6 permanent implants in each arch.

So here are the numbers. Each arch is $4500, and I'll need 13 extractions as well as alveoloplasty in some places to replace lost bone structure from going so long with no back teeth, which will bring the total to $12,558, of which my insurance will pay 2500 at most. I'm technically eligible for a small amount of financing which will help, but the downpayment would take a lot of it and the APR% is SUPER high, I'd like to keep the amount I borrow minimal to prevent being saddled with that additional financial burden for another 1-2 years when there are so many other things I still need to handle after this.

I realize that most people are struggling right now, and if you don't care to throw any of your hard earned money in the direction of me and my ruined teeth (that I ruined), I totally get it. But those who never ask are always refused, so here I am.

When I was in active addiction I would end up backed into corners whenever I needed something, because all the money I should've had was already spent on my habit, and there was a surprising number of people willing to help me then because they didn't really know what was going on with me. Now that the truth is known, despite having completely changed my life since then I understand that I may not seem trustworthy to some, and that's something that's out of my control. But I guarantee every cent of anything I get from this will be going directly to this process, for which the price tag still may be raised again if there are any kind of complications (those of you who pray I ask that you do so here!) Something they tell you in the recovery circle sometimes is that you know you've reached true recovery when you start feeling moved to do the right things, even when nobody is watching, and I've found that to be very much true in my own recovery. Somewhere along the way the voice of my conscience became far louder than that of my addiction, and these days the latter is barely a murmur.

If you don't want to donate, cool. If you want to but can't, well wishes and good vibes sent my way are 100% appreciated. At 33%APR even a few hundred bucks I can add to the down payment will help a lot down the line with that repayment process. And finances aside, THANK YOU to all of you who have shown me support throughout this process! It hasn't been easy all the time, but it's been a million times easier than the way I was living, and it has honestly blown me away continuously how many of you have voiced support for me. I love you all!