Dear Smiles for Success Foundation and Donors,

I am writing this letter to say thank you to the ‘Smiles for Success Foundation’ and the Donors who have contributed their time and money towards giving me a smile that has restored my confidence. I now have the ability to pursue my dream of becoming a Broadcast Political Journalist because of their generosity and support of those less fortunate.

I am compelled to share my story about my introduction to the Foundation and what and how this experience has changed my life.

While researching the Internet about dental solutions to manage my dental pain and how to restore my smile which had deteriorated over the years, I came across an article about the ‘Smiles for Success Foundation.’ The article was about Candace Bentley, a woman who fled an abusive relationship to start a new life and how the “Smiles” program helped her achieve her goal by giving her a smile she could be proud of.

Thinking my story is similar to hers as I had also left an abusive relationship and started a new life by enrolling in college, I wrote a letter to the Foundation. To my surprise, I was contacted by Alexandra Haban-Spanos, from the Foundation and she said, “We want to help you.” I couldn’t believe my ears and my eyes welled up with tears of hope.

After ending my abusive relationship, I realized it would be extremely challenging to buy a home or plan for retirement on the salary I was earning as a preschool teacher. I returned to school with a goal of opening my own preschool. While attending college I discovered that my real passion is not to be a preschool owner, but to be a Broadcast Political Journalist.  I can just see it, “This is Kari Thumlert reporting live from the White House. Today the President….” Due to the disfiguring appearance of my teeth, I gave up my dream of being in front of the camera and decided that print journalism was my only option.

Now, through the aid of the ‘Smiles for Success Foundation’ I can step into the spotlight because I have a smile that I am proud of. Before my dental treatment with “Smiles,” my smile was lopsided due to a bridge that I received 20 years ago that was too big for my mouth. The bridge was made to compensate for a missing canine on the left side of my mouth. Actually, it looked like I had three large front teeth. I was also told at that time by the dentist who was treating me that I needed to have a scaling every six months and it would cost $75 a quadrant. A quadrant is one section of the mouth, there are 4 sections (known as quadrants). Not having $300 every six months for the care, I was forced to ignore the problem, and the saying “ignore it and it will go away” does apply here, ignore your teeth and they WILL go away.

By ignoring my teeth over the years, my smile continued to worsen. My teeth yellowed, plaque built up and gingivitis developed causing my gums to bleed when I brushed. The combination of gum disease and the bridge that was too large caused shifting to occur. I developed a huge gap between the right front tooth and the incisor next to it and the bridge moved to the left side of my mouth. This caused my smile to be lopsided, and wiped away what little self-esteem and confidence I had until the life-changing phone call from Haban-Spanos.
 
The ‘Smiles for Success Foundation’ referred me to Drs. Cherilyn Sheets, Jacinthe Paquette and Jean Wu in Newport Beach. Unfortunately, I live 60 miles away from Newport Beach and do not have a reliable vehicle to travel there. Haban-Spanos then made arrangements with Enterprise Rental Car so I would have transportation throughout my treatment.

Once at the dental office, Dr. Wu examined my mouth and the office agreed to take on my case. The first step was to treat the gum disease with deep scalings to remove the infection around the roots of my teeth. I learned how wrong it was not to get regular cleanings. Arvie Malik, the dental hygienist at the office said that the information I had received about needing scaling every six months was false. If you have proper regular cleanings and maintain adequate homecare you should not need a scaling at all. From there began the transformation of my smile, treatment of my gum disease and filling the cavities that were contributing to my pain.

Over a three month period Dr.Wu, Hiroki Goto, the Dental Technologist, and her wonderful staff worked passionately transforming my mouth into a work of art. I call it a work of art as I once asked Dr. Wu, “What compelled you to go into dental practice?” She thought about it for a minute and said, “I have always loved architecture and building things.” That made sense as that is how I would describe what she and her unbelievably patient staff have done for me. They demolished my old smile and rebuilt a new one from the ground up. Goto designed the teeth from molds of my mouth just like architects use miniature models of the buildings they are designing. Dr. Wu uses models of mouths and teeth so she can plan which is the best approach for rebuilding a smile. Then Goto spends many hours fabricating the teeth out of porcelain and gold for Dr.Wu to deliver to the mouth to complete the work of art.
 
After the initial gum treatment and healing, it was determined that my gums would also need some reconstruction to correct their uneven appearance. Dr. Sheets personally called Dr. Peter Nordland D.M.D., M.S. who is a Periodontal Plastic Surgeon in San Diego. Dr. Nordland and his outstanding staff performed surgery on their day off to correct the uneven gum levels, which would surround my new teeth. It was a pain free procedure and healed beautifully. He removed gum tissue where there was excess and added gum to the defect where I was missing a tooth and taught me the importance of flossing. If only we all understood how truly important proper brushing and flossing is and how much we could save in dental costs if we just did it everyday. Well I understand it now thanks to Dr. Nordland and yes all this work is not going to waste as I now floss everyday.

The last part of the treatment concluded with using Aqua Fresh whitening trays. It was very exciting to watch my teeth transform from yellow to pearly white. I was surprised how easy and comfortable the product was to use. My teeth now look like those of the models that are on magazine covers. They are absolutely beautiful!

There was one final part of my transformation that the Foundation had in store for me, which is ironic as it is the part I was actually starting to work on as I reach the last year of my academic life. I needed a resume and was planning to go to the career center on campus to ask for help, but Haban-Spanos suggested calling ‘Dress for Success.’ It is an organization that helps woman who are returning to the workforce to write a resume, do’s and don’ts on the interview process and helps provide professional clothing if needed. When I called they were so friendly and set an appointment to help me get started on the tools I will need for my new career path. They were so welcoming and made what seemed like a difficult task a breeze. After all how does one explain 17 years of preschool teaching, into eight years of education, to I want to be a Broadcast Journalist? ‘Dress for Success’ helped me do it and the resume looks so good, I am sure it will result in job interviews and with my new smile I will be reporting live from White House very soon.

Through the help of ‘Smiles for Success Foundation,’ Drs, Sheets, Paquette, and Wu, Hiroki Goto, Dr. Nordland, and their staff, ‘Dress for Success,’ Glasko, Smith and Klein, Enterprise Rental Car, the donors and their time, I have a smile that no longer makes me camera shy. There are no words to express the gratitude I feel for the life-changing gift that has been given to me. Thank you just doesn’t seem sufficient, but I am going to say it anyway. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!

With a heart full of endless gratitude,

Kari Thumlert