After 5 years of long hard work, a boy who couldn’t even close his mouth finally has a smile that he is happy to show everyone.
Evan Hill had such a severe case of buck teeth, that he was unable to even close his mouth. Instead his two front teeth would stick out over his bottom lip.
Sadly, this made Evan Hill a target for bullying among his classmates. He faced constant teasing and bullying from his classmates who often referred to him as the “rabbit kid.” Evan’s orthodontist, Rob Sluiter, said that it was one of the worst cases he had seen in his 25 years of work.
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Unfortunately, with such a severe case also meant that there would be a large cost for the work to fix it and Evan’s family simply didn’t have the money. Estimates went as high as $12,000 to fix the buck teeth. Evan’s father, Stephen, had recently lost his mother and his father was now in a retirement home. Stephen didn’t even have a car to take Evan back and forth for his dental appointments. The Hill family were having very bad luck at the time.
Thankfully, in 2011, countless news publications covered the story. The story tugged at the heartstrings of millions of readers. Soon the public managed to raise over $100,000 New Zealand dollars an incredible amount for any fundraiser.
The Hill family were shocked. They could not believe the outpouring of support they received. Thanks to the incredible support from kind people around the world, Evan and his family were not only able to pay for his dental bills, but even afford a car to bring him to the dentists appointments when he needed.
The money that the Hill family didn’t spend on the car or Evan’s bills were placed into a trust that was formed to help other children who needed dental work that their families simply couldn’t afford. The money would continue to help other cases like Evan’s.
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It took a long time for Evan and his orthodontist to do it, but the change for Evan is shocking. Over the past 5 years Evan had to make monthly trips to the orthodontist for them to help tweak his braces and do other dental work as needed. But it was all worth it and you can see it in the results, you can hardly tell that it’s the same person! They were able to shift Evan’s teeth back by 15 millimeters. That’s slightly smaller than the width of a dime.
It’s pretty unbelievable. Evan’s orthodontist, Ronald Sluiter, who performed all of the work over the past 5 years is even he is proud of his work.
We’ve come a long way haven’t we?
Evan now has a confident smile and doesn’t face the constant bullying that he was just 5 years ago. He’s a happy young boy and the operation has given him the chance to live a normal life.
Evan’s mother, Barbara Erickson could not be more thankful to those who graciously donated money to help her son.
I don’t know where we would have been today without the generosity we had.
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Be sure to watch the video below to see Evan’s new smile in motion!