Development of a Smile

Welcome to Stephanie’s Smile. Stephanie, me, is beginning a mission to find and seek help from others in an effort to have a normal, healthy life and smile. Something that I feel alot of people take for granted.

Over the past 5 years I’ve written to everyone from my local news agencies to Oprah Winfrey. Not one of them even acknowledged that I had written. So today, I write to you. If your reading, that means your even slightly interested in hearing me. I Thank You for taking the time to let me speak. If I do nothing but educate you, then my time has been worthwhile. If you share a commonality to my situation, I would love to hear your voice too.

Here’s my story.

I was born in Kansas in 1971. (I’m 35 for those trying to do the math. Smile) I was born with two birth defects that some people know very little about, although alot of you may have seen a person inflicted with at least one. Perhaps you just didn’t know or understand what you were seeing.

First is a Cleft Lip, more commonly referred to as a Hairlip. Medical definition: any of the clefts between the embryonic prominences that normally unite to form the face. Basically my upper lip was split and extended into my nasal cavity.

Second is a Cleft Palate. Definition as given by The Free Dictionary: Cleft palate is a condition in which the two plates of the skull that form the hard palate (roof of the mouth) are not completely joined. The soft palate is in these cases cleft as well. In most cases, cleft lip is also present.

For the first several months of my life, my family fed me with an eyedropper. Since I had no palate, I was unable to suck from a bottle. My mother sought care from a wonderful doctor, rest in peace, that surgically repaired my cleft lip and then months later, my cleft palate. Seeing others with a cleft lip, I feel fortunate that I look as well as I do. Especially since we didn’t have the medical advances that we do today. Upon meeting me initially, most people assume I was injured in a car accident or something. (I also have the luxury of using makeup to help cover my scar, which gives me a little more confidence in my appearance.)

I underwent 4 major surgeries from age 1 to 12 to repair my cleft lip and cleft palate. My mother did not always have insurance once my father walked out on us, so she turned to the Shriners for assistance. If it had not been for the Shriners and the work they do, I can’t imagine how I would look today.

After my first surgery was complete, the doctor told my mother not to expect for me to get teeth. There was a slim chance that teeth would come in since I had no roof in my mouth, which therefore gave me very little gums on the top. I did get teeth and terrorized my mother with the teething process just like any normal baby would. Smile.

However, my teeth did not come in normal. Many of them, actually most of them, came in crooked or at an angle. Some came in crowded behind others. This made dental care very difficult, as it was hard to get them clean. I began to get cavities very early in life. Mostly on the teeth that came in weird or in the back of others. It was easier to just pull them instead of filling them, since they weren’t where they should have been or if they were poking out at an angle rather than down.

Based on what you've learned so far, are you starting to get an image in your mind? This is the start of the picture I will paint for you. More to come.........Smile.