Hi!

I’m the cute baby in the picture where I wasn’t embarrassed to smile!

I was born with a cleft lip, which resulted in my first surgery at six months old to repair the cleft and another surgery at around 10 years old to transplant bone marrow from my hip into my gums to create some bone where there was none. The surgery at 10 years old failed to produce bone. At that same time my mother came into money and she decided to put my brother and I in braces. After a short amount of time, though I’m not sure how long, the money dried up. My brother’s teeth were pretty easy to fix in the first place so his braces were off in no time. Mine, on the other hand, were much more of a problem… That we could no longer afford. I remained with untreated braces on my teeth until I was 18 years old.

As you can imagine, years of untreated orthodontia caused substantial damage to most of my teeth. At 18 years old, I called the orthodontist and begged him to take them off and he did but the damage was done. 

With all of that being said, at 41, I am trying to do what I can to finally be able to smile with confidence. And I try hard to never show my teeth, but it’s impossible. I’m literally wearing a retainer with little false teeth from when I 10 years old. You can imagine that it’s not the best fit…30 years later.

The dentist is going to cost me $6000 but I’d also have to see an oral surgeon. The oral surgeon is quoting me $9000. So altogether, with insurance, it would be about $15,000.

It’s all just humiliating to share my very personal and shameful story, to not be able to afford the cost to repair my own teeth, and to ask people that I love to help is excruciating. I’m the primary provider for a family of 4 and have been for the last 20 years. I seem to take care of everyone before myself.  The cost of this procedure is simply more than I can afford. And I am fiercely independent and asking for help, especially to this degree, is brutal knock to my ego. 

…but here we are…

I’m putting myself out there to ask those who can help, to help me accomplish the one thing in life that I want SO badly…to smile without fear and shame. This is legitimately a lifelong dream. 

Thank you for considering it. And if you can’t…I get it…and I appreciate the thought. ☺️