{"id":5390,"date":"2016-02-13T06:11:34","date_gmt":"2016-02-13T06:11:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/demo.zigzagpress.com\/dharma\/?p=5390"},"modified":"2021-08-05T22:50:01","modified_gmt":"2021-08-05T22:50:01","slug":"smile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.texasdentistryforkids.com\/blog\/smile\/","title":{"rendered":"A Smile For Her Son"},"content":{"rendered":"NEW YORK, NY, USA: Jalen\u2019s mother realized that having a beautiful smile would change everything for her son. Accidents resulting in trauma to his mouth as a child had left him with a broken smile. With each passing year, she watched him retreat into a shell of silence and pain. She had tried to get him the dental care he needed, but the family had faced hard times over the years and they were unable to afford it.\n\nJalen was a hardworking student and a talented artist, but poor oral health was robbing him of his self-esteem and ability to concentrate in school. Distracted by constant agony and shame, he struggled socially and academically. Fearing ridicule, he was intimidated by the prospect of making friends and afraid to ask for help with his studies. Then, the unfortunate loss of his beloved grandmother further shattered his fragile spirit. Realizing his future was in jeopardy, Jalen\u2019s mother vowed to find a way to help her son. Then, tragedy struck once again. Before she could realize her dream of seeing her son smile again, she died.<!--more-->\n\nSeeing this gifted teen suffer in silence, his art teacher was compelled to take up his mother\u2019s charge to find a way to give Jalen the healthy smile he deserved.\n\n\u201cHe is so self-conscious about his teeth. Jalen has the most insightful comments, yet when he speaks, he covers his mouth with his hand every time, making him difficult to understand,\u201d the art teache said. She recommended Jalen for Tomorrow\u2019s SMILES, a teen program of the National Children\u2019s Oral Health Foundation: America\u2019s Toothfairy (NCOHF) that provides promising, at-risk teens with comprehensive oral health services to help prepare them for healthy, successful futures.\n\n\u201cJalen is an impressive young man who has coped with his losses in such a dignified way. He would greatly appreciate the opportunity for a better smile and to fulfill his mother\u2019s wish,\u201d she said about this remarkable teen.\n\nSponsored by the Patterson Foundation, Tomorrow\u2019s SMILES helps restore smiles and self esteem while encouraging teens to take responsibility for their oral health. Caring volunteer dentists provide pro-bono restorative services to a pre-screened ambitious teen. Tomorrow\u2019s SMILES volunteer dentists also have access to generously donated products from Invisalign and Nobel Biocare (including Procera) to help restore the smiles of pre-screened, promising teens.\n\nIn return for receiving this life-changing care, participating teens \u201cPay It Forward\u201d by sharing their newfound oral health knowledge through interactive oral health lessons with younger children in their community.\n\nPay It Forward enables these teens to serve as mentors and teachers to children, encouraging good oral health habits that will help them maintain beautiful, happy smiles throughout their lives and help break the cycle of pediatric dental disease in their own community.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK, NY, USA: Jalen\u2019s mother realized that having a beautiful smile would change everything for her son. Accidents resulting in trauma to his mouth as a child had left him with a broken smile. With each passing year, she watched him retreat into a shell of silence and pain. She had tried to get him the dental care he needed, but the family had faced hard times over the years and they were unable [&hellip;] <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.texasdentistryforkids.com\/blog\/smile\/\">(Read More)<\/a>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6015,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A Smile For Her Son - Texas Dentistry and Braces<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.texasdentistryforkids.com\/blog\/smile\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Smile For Her Son - Texas Dentistry and Braces\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"NEW YORK, NY, USA: Jalen\u2019s mother realized that having a beautiful smile would change everything for her son. Accidents resulting in trauma to his mouth as a child had left him with a broken smile. With each passing year, she watched him retreat into a shell of silence and pain. 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