All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth

At 11 my parents raised funds to help me gain a confident smile. I had wonky teeth, top and bottom. I had adult teeth that only grew to peg teeth. I was also recovering from a traumatic facial injury where I had connected with a concrete step, cracking four teeth, chipping two, splitting both lips open, and punching a hole through my chin. I had to have stitches inside my mouth and had to take real care when eating in case I swallowed parts of my teeth.

In Intermediate School, I had braces on the top and bottom for two years. I had all sorts of springs inside pulling and pushing and tightening and yanking my teeth around. Often there was pain and sometimes even some blood. My peg teeth needed to be capped (to make them normal size). As I have grown, I am outgrowing these caps. My gums are naturally receding and the fake teeth are showing more prominently. I have started to get pain on one tooth. The dentist is sure the root is struggling under the weight of the fake tooth.

Recently I noticed the peg teeth were getting looser and on a visit to the dentist he was a little shocked the fake teeth were still fixed. He has consulted colleagues and recommended implants. They would need to extract the current teeth, graft some bone to my top jaw as the jaw bone is lacking, stick metal stalks into my jaw, allow five months to heal, then install two implants. This process is invasive and pricey. I will have to take time out of teaching, playing my musical instruments and of course this means time away from income.

I am hoping there is someone generous enough out there who could donate just a small portion of the cost (whether to go towards the cost of the surgery, or to running our house while my income is not occurring).

Thank you for taking the time to read through this!