TLDR: I'm pleading for help. I need emergency dental extractions and hopefully dentures to give me back my dignity and self-esteem. Please. This is my last hope.

When I was just 11 years old, a single playground mishap, turned into a lifelong source of shame and suffering. I was at the playground with my little sister, when I got on top of monkey bars. Somehow my hand slipped, I lost grip, and busted my mouth on the bars. Which cracked my adult front tooth clean in half. The damage was beyond repair. That tooth, the one right in the center of my smile, couldn’t be saved. I had to go to school still. Humiliated, terrified, embarrassed, and ashamed. I could barely open my mouth for months until we could get into a dental appointment. Eventually, what remained had to be extracted, and I was given a dental flipper to cover the space. It was flimsy and temporary, but it allowed me to feel somewhat normal. This sadly only lasted 7 years. Because at 18, during a trip to the lake, it slipped out of my mouth and was lost forever in the water. I was no longer on my mother’s insurance, so there was no way I could afford another flipper, let alone any permanent dental solution. I was just a young adult. Did not understand how insurance worked. Wasn't educated enough in navigating what "in-network" or "PPO" meant. Couple this with my paralyzing fear of a dentist from when they strapped me down to a chair for a root canal. You never lose the anxiety and panic inducing grip in your head and chest just from thinking of going into another dental office with an experience like that.

That was the moment I disappeared behind my hand. Behind closed lips. Behind fake laughter. Behind fear.

For the next 15 years, I lived without a front tooth. I didn’t just lose a tooth — I lost my confidence, my self-worth, and my ability to live like a normal person. I was paralyzed by a fear that grew even more every year I went without care. On top of that, I spent a decade in an environment that only exacerbated my oral issues. I developed severe gum recession, intense daily toothaches, and nerve pain that made it hard to sleep, eat, or even think straight. My wisdom teeth came in all at once, top and bottom, and almost immediately shattered inside my mouth. Pieces of broken teeth still sit in my gums to this day, festering and causing constant, radiating pain. But with no money and no insurance, my only option was to suffer.

For all of my adulthood, I’ve lived with rotting, broken teeth in my mouth. I haven’t smiled in over 15 years — not a real smile. I can’t eat foods I love. I can’t speak or laugh truly with my friends or family without anxiety and shame swallowing me whole. Job interviews are a nightmare. Socializing is impossible. I’ve lost out on opportunities, relationships, and milestones because I’ve been too humiliated to show my face. This situation has robbed me of a normal life. The physical agony is real, but the emotional torture has been even worse. I’ve cried silently so many nights, just wishing I could be like everyone else. Someone who could smile freely, eat without pain, and feel human again.

Now, I’m finally in a healthy marriage with someone who sees past the damage and loves me despite what I hide behind closed lips. He even went so far as to get me "pop on" veneers for our wedding. So that I could smile, truly as big as I could and share in real comfort and joy, for the first time since I was a kid. It served it's purpose. For the first time in my life, my husband has shown me that I want to fight for myself, to try to heal, take my health seriously, to rebuild, and to smile again so that I may live a long healthy life by his side.

I am asking for $5,500 to afford the emergency dental work I’ve needed for over a decade. That amount would cover all extractions and a full set of dentures — the bare minimum to finally stop the pain and start my life over. The money needed is after my insurance coverage. I don't have a line of credit, I have been denied through lenders, and even my own bank for a personal loan. Crowd funding is my last hope.

Please, if you’ve ever taken a smile for granted, or known the deep ache of being too embarrassed to even speak — I’m begging you to help. Even a few dollars can bring me closer to the relief, the freedom, and the dignity I’ve lived without for far too long. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading my story.