Patient Spotlight

Ashley’s Story

“I feel like a whole new person, to be honest.”

Full extractions & dentures · referred through her church

Ashley: before and after treatment at Mint for More — Before & after — Ashley, a real Mint for More patient. Photo used with permission.

There was a stretch when the emergency room knew Ashley by name. “Every couple of days,” she says. They’d put her on antibiotics and tell her she needed her teeth removed — but never told her where to go.

Some days the pain kept her in bed. “I couldn’t hardly get out of bed,” she remembers — “earaches and toothaches and headaches, just not feeling good at all.” She spent money she didn’t have on Orajel, antibiotics, and pain medicine, because nothing else was working.

“It was real hard for me to actually smile — a real smile. I was in there and I forgot they were even in.”

Her church connected her to Mint for More. The hardest part wasn’t the dentistry — it was the fear. Dr. McCord spent a few hours just helping her calm down enough to begin. That patience is the reason she stayed.

Now she forgets her dentures are even in. She smiles — a real smile — and she can’t stop telling people about it.

What changed

ER every few daysAntibiotics and no path forward. Now: real care.

Stuck in bedPain that stole whole days. Now: up and herself again.

Money on OrajelSpending she couldn’t afford, on relief that didn’t last.

Trust, then a smileHours of patience in the chair made it possible.

Ashley smiling after treatment at Mint for More

“Honestly? I’m probably speechless.”

— Ashley, asked what she’d say to a donor

Mint for More provides free dental care to neighbors who lack access to a dental home. Stories like Ashley’s are made possible by donors — and by the nonprofit partners who refer the neighbors we serve.

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