Patient Spotlight

Ezra’s Story

“You guys have touched me in the heart.”

Full extractions & dentures · referred through a recovery network

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

From the time he was 18, Ezra used the emergency room as his dentist — around 30 visits over 14 years. It was the fastest way to relief. Every time, they prescribed something for the pain and told him to see a dentist. No name. No path.

So he got smaller. “I was always in the back of the room, hiding, not speaking, never smiling. My confidence didn’t exist.” And as he puts it: when you don’t have confidence, you don’t ask about raises or promotions — you just float along in the back.

“I asked for a certain amount, and they gave me a 50% pay increase instead — because so many people said I was doing so much better.”

What gave him the courage to apply was his brother, who had received the same kind of care through a recovery program before he passed. Watching that change — right at the end — made Ezra ask, “What can it hurt?”

After his dentures, the man in the back of the room started showing up. He asked for a raise — and his company gave him 50% more than he’d asked for, because coworkers kept reporting how much he’d changed. He ate ice cream for the first time in 20 years.

What changed

~30 ER visitsPain meds, never a dentist. Now: real care.

Hiding in the backNo confidence, no asking. Now: engaging, leading.

A 50% raiseCoworkers noticed the change before he asked.

Ice creamFirst time in 20 years.

Ezra smiling after treatment at Mint for More

“I would thank them profusely. I would honestly probably fall to my knees in gratitude.”

— Ezra, to the donors who make this care possible

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

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