Every year, for my brother's birthday, I ask him what he wants. And every year, I get the same response. A tooth.
You see, neither of my twin brothers were born with a full set of adult teeth. After six (yes, six) years of braces, Justin was left with a somewhat normal set of pearly whites, but John was left with a nice gaping hole where a permanent implant was supposed to go - sometime soon.
John has had an unfortunate "tooth-on-a-wire" stand-in for about nine years now.
Hanging around my parents house post-high school, it was not uncommon to hear the line "Does anyone know where my tooth is?". But even wierder, for one of us to respond "Yeah, its on the second shelf of the medicine cabinet, between the Benadryl and Tylenol" or "You left it on the living room table".
Being the kind siblings that we are, this year, we decided to take John literally when he said he wanted a tooth for his birthday. As his gift, we made an initial donation to the Buy John a Tooth Fund. This page is now open for minimum $1 donations from his family and friends.
A tooth runs about $4,000 and insurance will pay zip. We know that this is not the noblest of charitable causes, but we are getting a good laugh out of it, and hey, its cheaper than buying him a birthday drink!
Happy 26th Birthday John, and here is to a new tooth by 27!
Love,
Brie (and Justin)
