One evening back in 1993, I got so excited during a heated game of “Street Fighter” that I accidentally smacked my 7-year-old brother, Mo, on the back of the head.
Mo flew face-first into the corner of a wooden table, and the table won. His tooth shattered, exposing a painful nerve.
I offered Mo gifts for years if he would promise to never smile, just so our parents wouldn’t discover the tooth.
That promise didn’t last.
Due to lack of money and know-how, our immigrant parents didn’t have access to a dentist. The tooth wasn’t fixed, and for years, I watched my brother hide his fractured smile.
THE SILVER LINING IS THAT THE GUILT LED ME TO START THIS CLINIC.
I wanted to see my brother – and others -- smile with confidence. That childhood moment gave me purpose through years of training. I wanted to master the craft and bring back Mo’s smile.
Finally, when Mo and I were roommates at UCLA – he was an undergrad; I was in dental school there -- I got to fix his tooth.
Today, he’s a computer engineer whose smile is big and bright.
He designed the top notch technology in our office. He also joined some buddies at a little startup called Pinterest.
Let’s say he’s doing just fine.
OUR STORY MAKES SCRIPPS PEDIATRIC DENTISTRY MORE THAN A DENTAL OFFICE. IT'S A UNIQUE PLACE AIMED AT GIVING KIDS THE LIFE-CHANGING POWER OF A CONFIDENT SMILE.