Hello, as most of everyone knows, my name is Ashley! I’m a 32-year-old mom of 2 boys and a wife of an amazing and very supportive husband. Now back to the beginning! Growing up, I never really had the greatest dental records. Family genetics did not help me one bit. I had to get my wisdom teeth removed at the age of 15 because my mouth was so small that they would never be able to grow in right, and they were causing me discomfort. Fast forward to 2010/2011, when the major dental problems started to surface. Those dates were when I was pregnant and laboring our first child. A few months after having my first child is when my dental health really started to go downhill. Despite multiple cleanings and dentist appointments to try and stay ahead of the issue, the issues only became worse as the years went by. From 2011 to 2013, my teeth weren’t horrible, but they weren’t in the best shape either. In 2012 to 2013, I was carrying and laboring our second child. As the years went by, even with going to regular appointments for dental care, my teeth just took a turn for the worse. In 2017, I went to a dentist who did a procedure that changed my life for the worse. I had all of my top teeth removed and a top denture placed. I was able to wear that denture on and off for about 6 months to a year. The denture never fit right from the time I got it. Let’s rewind a little bit though. In 2017, when I had my procedure to remove my top teeth, that was the absolute worst experience I have ever been through in my life. I was awake, and the medicines to numb the areas were not working and wore off really quickly, and the dentist had no compassion for my pain at all. So, after that experience and other experiences after that, I never went back to that dentist ever again. As a matter of fact, I never went back to any dentist for a good while. For one, I was terrified and traumatized after the whole experience. Two, I couldn’t afford another denture because insurance had already paid for one. So, for almost 5 years, I went without teeth in the top of my mouth from the age of 25 to 30. A few of those years, we and/or I had gotten so desperate to have something there that my lovely husband ordered some stuff to make a denture for me himself. Did it work? Somewhat. Could I actually wear it? No. I only wore it when we were going to important outings with a lot of people, and I just didn’t eat while having them in. But my mindset was at least I have teeth. You should hear the stories I have heard over the years behind my back, being a young person with no top teeth. From walking around in stores hearing people behind and in front of you say that’s what drugs will do to you and so on. It became to the point where I never wanted to go anywhere, and if I did, it had to be with my husband because I didn’t think I could handle going through situations like that in public by myself. He was my safety net. As long as he was with me, I felt okay somewhat, but then it became harder to go to family functions. Maybe it was all in my head, but with already having severe social and regular anxiety, being in the situation I was in made it harder to even be around anyone, no matter if it was family or not. For the fear of the steady looks my way and thinking there were whispers about my situation. It really got bad to where I would be holding back tears just trying to make it to family functions just so my children could see their family. Also, I have been a solo business owner for about 5 years trying to grow a business all on my own. I know deep down my appearance, the face of my business, really hinders me from bringing my business to its full potential. Even though I have met some amazing supportive clients and I love all of them, there are the few choice meetings that I have with potential clients. As soon as they see me, I see and feel the judgment of my appearance. I just want to be a successful business owner that doesn’t get judged for my appearance rather than my ability to get the job done. So, fast forward to about a month ago. I wake up one day with a HUGE infection in the side of my mouth from a broken tooth that I never got fixed. So bad of an infection that it was no longer in my gum but completely in my cheek. My cheek was the size of a softball. I went to urgent care and got antibiotics like I usually do because I was so used to getting infections, just not ever this bad. A week later, I went to a new local dentist. Let me tell you, he and his staff were amazing and comforting for the most part because my stress levels were through the roof with being back in a dentist’s office. I knew the infection was bad, but when the doctor came in after x-rays, the look on his face said everything was NOT okay. I went in to hopefully get the infection removed and remove the bottom teeth and hopefully get new dentures and/or implants for top and bottom. That moment is when everything went downhill, and the fears of never having teeth again came tumbling down. What the doctor said was the infection had gotten so bad that it has eaten over 50 percent of my bone and everything in my gums, meaning nothing to attach anything such as implants to. That’s when the tears started rolling, and the Kleenexes started being handed out. But that wasn’t all. It doesn’t get better. Before I say this next part, you must know I was never told that any of this could happen from the previous dentist that did the procedure in 2017. So, not only was I in fear that I would possibly never be able to have bottom teeth after having them removed, I was also told that I would only have a small chance of having a top set of teeth, and the chances were really small. Because of me not being able to wear the top dentures for so long, all of my bone and cartilage at the top was completely gone. Nothing was there except the nasal cavity. So, with that being said, because of my mouth already not having an arch to fit a denture correctly. I would never be able to have a denture that fit right. So, even being in shock, we knew that we needed to get the infection out quickly. I went to the surgeon to schedule the procedure of removing the infection, removing all bottom teeth, and possibly putting implants in the bottom for a denture since we knew it would never fit right because of the way my mouth was. But it was uncertain that it would be able to be done because there was so much damage in the bottom. So, we started the process of the surgery to later find out that we would have to have almost 10 thousand dollars paid out of pocket to the surgeon before the surgery could even be scheduled. Oh, and also, one, I would be paying for dentures that would possibly never fit right, and two, if the surgeon was to be able to hypothetically get implants placed in the bottom with no issues, I would have to go through that surgery every ten or so years to have those implants replaced. Because yeah, they only last about ten years. Yeah, I know, fun times. So, fast forward to a few weeks ago. My husband and I stumbled across a person on TikTok that traveled to another state for a very similar surgery called the insertion of Zygomatic implants and full mouth restoration. For once, we finally saw hope. This surgery takes all of the what-ifs out of the scenario. This surgery would bypass all of the issues that my current dentist and surgeon have found and would be the absolute best option for my situation. So, my husband called them and told them my story. We knew it was going to be pricey, just not this pricey. But we were going to try and figure it out. So, we started the process. We sent over my x-rays and started working on everything on our end, such as the welcome packet, doing research, asking questions, trying to find ways to come up with the money, and trying to apply for finance options. Well, this week, we were notified that all of the financial options we applied for were denied. During COVID, our life went to total hell. We were definitely in fight or flight mode, and years later, we are finally getting out of the trenches just a little bit. It’s still not better, but we are getting there. As a family of 4, we have always done everything on our own, never really asked for anything. But we are always there to help anyone and everyone when anyone needs us. That’s just who we are. We help everyone we can. So, we called the surgeon and expressed our situation and asked questions on what else we could do. My husband was even trying to pull out of retirement, but that still isn’t the full balance of what is needed, and that is taking forever to complete, and I still have the infection in my mouth steadily eating away more tissue. So, the surgeon’s office told us if we schedule the surgery in July, we could get a decent discount for some surgeon discount for that month. And since we weren’t approved for any other options, they offered one more thing that they don’t advertise. We were excited, finally a light at the end of the tunnel. We were finally going to be able to do this. It was really happening. I started the blood work and tests and got all of that stuff done. And today, they called to discuss the option that they told us about at the beginning of the week, only to be told that if we do this option, we were not allowed any discounts, that we would owe the full balance with no discounts. Talk about a hit to the stomach. I instantly started silently crying over the phone, trying to hold it together in front of my 11-year-old son. So, that’s where this account comes into the scenario. My husband and I never ask for anything; we always just try to figure things out on our own. Before this, we explored all avenues that we could before coming to this. But we didn’t see any other option. All in all, I just want to be comfortable in my own skin again. I want to feel normal again. I want to be able to go to family gatherings and not be afraid and/or have anxiety. I want to be able to go in public. But most of all, I want to run a successful business without the worries of judgment.
So, if you have it in your heart to donate to the cause, my family and I would greatly appreciate it. You will be helping a young mom stay healthy and live a whole new life.
These fees would be going to the surgeons directly for the surgery and for hotel stays as we will have to be in Florida for approximately 2 weeks before, during, and after surgery, as requested by the surgery facility.
If anyone feels the need for questions, I’m an open book and will try to answer any questions anyone may have.
