Patient Spotlight

Kayla’s Story

“It’s going to change my life. I can tell already.”

Full extractions & dentures

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

Kayla is a nurse and a single mom — the person who takes care of everyone else. For years, that meant putting her own needs last, managing constant toothaches with Tylenol and oral gel and being too embarrassed to smile.

“There’s nothing worse than a toothache,” she says. Raising her kids, she put her own care on hold — and good dental work was simply too expensive to reach on her own.

“Self-esteem is much better. I’m not embarrassed. I smile a lot more.”

After extractions and dentures through Mint for More, her self-esteem came back with her smile. She eats things she’d avoided for years — ice cream again, after the cold used to set her teeth on edge. And she didn’t realize how sick the infection had been making her until it was gone.

Now her own patients tell her how pretty her teeth are — and the nurse who cared for everyone else finally got cared for, too.

What changed

Put herself lastA nurse and single mom who waited. Now: her turn.

Toothaches, aloneTylenol and oral gel. Now: no pain.

Too expensiveCare she couldn’t reach on her own. Now: free, and done.

Eating againIce cream again — the cold used to hurt too much.

Kayla smiling after treatment at Mint for More

“Do it. Don’t think twice about it. Do it.”

— Kayla, to anyone thinking about donating

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

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