Get Me to Dentist

Hi, my name is Laura, and I am fundraising for money to complete dental work. I am 42 years old, and my husband is on SSDI, and it is our only income. I am unable to work due to mental and physical illnesses and am in the process of applying for SSI. Because of this, I have extremely limited funds and am unable to pay for the dental care I need. I consider dental care more of a want than a need because it does not contribute to my physical health, however it does contribute to my mental health. As you can see in the picture, I have recently had a tooth removed because the cavity was such that I had to choose between an extremely expensive root canal and extracting it. I had the tooth removed believing that I would be able to afford the "flipper" the dentist said may be given to me. This depends on the complete evaluation that I need, but I have had to reschedule this appointment several times due to not having enough money to pay for it. At the "low income" clinic, it will cost $50 for the evaluation and an additional $40 for each tooth that needs to be extracted. I was not told at the last appointment how many teeth will need to be extracted, but I believe there are at least two in the front that will need to be extracted as the cavities are such that either root canals or extractions will be necessary. As extractions are cheaper than root canals, I am wanting to have this done, but still do not have the money necessary to pay for it. At this point, I am only asking for the amount I would need for these extractions, however once this is done, I will need to figure out how I might get either partial dentures or a flipper.

This is strictly a matter of my mental health, which is why it is not a priority for our income. However, I wanted to talk a little bit about the consequences to my mental health just missing the one tooth has caused. I already suffered from no self esteem and major depression. After I had this tooth removed, I do not leave the house when I will be interacting with anyone. I never smiled much before, but now smiles are non-existent. I did not and do not smile both because of my major depression but also because i feel very bad about my appearance missing a tooth. I realize that appearance is very superficial, and trust me, I never cared much about appearance (mostly because I have always considered myself not very good looking anyway), but since I have lost this tooth, I like myself even less. Therapy has taught me over the years not to put so much stock in my appearance and what others think; at the same time, I still constantly suffer with connecting my appearance with acceptance and therefore my self esteem.

I completely understand that no one would like to contribute to my self esteem, appearance, and overall mental health. However, I felt I couldn't lose anything by posting a fundraiser about it, putting my feelings about this situation online.

If you feel this is something to which you would like to contribute, thank you. If not, all I ask is that you share this with as many people as you can.