Eating hurt, she hated to smile. Tri-City doctors plan to fix that

Victoria Wynalda doesn’t love to smile.

The 35-year-old Kennewick woman has dental problems, and an ear-to-ear grin puts them on display.

She feels embarrassed.

But on Thursday, she couldn’t help it — a big, beautiful smile spread across her face.

Wynalda was picked from a pool of about 300 candidates for a complete dental overhaul through Columbia Basin Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeons’ Smile Again program. The Kennewick practice’s team will perform a full-arch restoration, replacing her damaged teeth with new, permanent ones.

“I’m so amazed,” Wynalda said Thursday, wiping away tears of happiness after the announcement.

She first applied for Smile Again in 2016, the program’s inaugural year. She described her dental problems and even met with the team from the Kennewick oral surgery practice.

But, ultimately, another person was chosen to be the first recipient.

When applications opened back up this year, Wynalda made sure to get hers in.

Dr. Todd Cooper, one of the practice’s surgeons, said Wynalda is a caring person who puts her family first. Being able to improve her life through the restoration is something special, he said.

“I know it’s just teeth, but it’s everything. It affects her smile, her self-esteem and how she interacts with people,” Cooper said. “It’s awesome to see her so happy. It’s emotional.”

Dr. Michael Johnson of the Washington State Prosthodontics and Dental Implant Center is making Wynalda’s new teeth.

Her surgery is planned for January.

The restoration is valued at about $60,000 to $65,000. Columbia Basin team is providing it for free, as a community service.

“We work here, we live here, we play here. This is our town. This is a way to support the Tri-Cities,” Cooper said. “(The community has) been so good to us in the time that we’ve been here, we asked ourselves, ‘How can we give back? And give back in a big way?’ (Smile Again) is what fit.”

Wynalda, a mother of six who works at a winery in Paterson, has had dental problems for years.

She had some trauma as a kid — her front teeth were kicked in — and she has alignment and decay issues.

It’s hard on her confidence. “When I speak to anyone, (for example) going into a gas station to talk to the attendant, I refrain from speaking or I put my head down. I’m embarrassed of my smile,” she said.

And, she experiences pain in her mouth. “When you come home at the end of the night, after a 12-hour shift, and you’re sore and aching, and you go to take a bite out of something — it’s more pain. It makes you feel more hopeless,” she said. “It affects everything I do.”

The new, healthy smile will be a gift, a blessing, she said.

She can’t wait to come out of the surgery with a new smile. She feels grateful, said. So very grateful.

“The doctors are so amazing — for offering their time, for offering this for free. It’s a lot. If you look at all the costs, when everything is said and done, it’s a lot to be done for nothing, just to be kind,” she said. “(This will help) not only me, but my kids, too. It changes a lot.”

Columbia Basin Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeons expects to offer the Smile Again program again next year.

This story was originally published November 30, 2017 at 6:05 PM with the headline "Eating hurt, she hated to smile. Tri-City doctors plan to fix that."