Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: Hello. Welcome to Beyond the Arches. I'm your host, Dr. Daniel Noorthoek. And with us today, we have Angela. Hello, Angela.

Angela: Hi. Thanks for having me. Nice to see you.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: And we've got our good friend here, Erica.

Erica: Hello. Welcome back, everybody.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: Today will be part of our patient "getting to know the patient" series, we'll say. And so today we're going to go through Angela, what has changed about your life, catch up on who you are and what makes you tick, and all of that stuff. So to start, why don't you tell us your background—where you're from, how you ended up in South Florida, that kind of thing.

Angela: Ah, my pleasure. I am born and raised in Staten Island, New York. The accent's probably going to come out periodically. I moved down here after I graduated from college with my Bachelor's and Associate's degree in the Culinary Arts. So, I am a chef.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: That is awesome. Was cooking a passion that came from your parents or?

Angela: It really was. I mean, growing up in a huge Italian family, my grandmother lived in the kitchen and every time we would do anything, it was around food and alcohol. We would just make a big to-do, grandiose meals my whole life. So, very family-oriented, I would imagine.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: Very much so. Very blessed. And when you went to culinary school, was it—I would imagine most of your base was Italian food and that kind of thing?

Angela: It definitely was. You know, we lived in a really big Italian neighborhood, too. So it was just like you see in the movies, to be honest. It was just traditional Italian food. And that was where my love of cooking kind of grew up, you know?

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: What about it fascinates you and made you want to create that, make it into your life?

Angela: I feel like getting to people's hearts can be through their stomachs, right? And a lot of people sit down at a table and they get to know each other over food. There's nothing like sitting down with really great food. To share that community, to share that bond, and to be with people around good food is always a great time.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: I think you're actually potentially our first real professional chef patient—with no teeth at the time, mind you. That's for later. But I think you are essentially our first real professional chef. Maybe second or third, but in terms of the story that you have, it's very fascinating in terms of just that being your life. And that's the essence of what we're trying to give back to people: that sense of family, that community, that bond that we all have through food and through gathering together. And so for you to be a person that offers that and us to be in a group that offers teeth and you needed it, I wish we met years ago. So walk us through how you ended up in South Florida and then maybe kind of how your teeth ended up the way that they did to start.

Angela: I'd love to. Well, my parents are—God bless them—they're married 65 years and they retired.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: Congratulations. That's pretty amazing.

Angela: Yeah. My dad's in his late 80s; my mom's just into her early 80s. So we moved down here when my parents retired. I'm an only child. I stayed in Staten Island to continue to live my life there, but when my parents left, I really didn't have anything else going on over there. I would come and visit them and it was like paradise down here with all the palm trees and the beautiful blue water. You couldn't remove me from Florida if you paid me now.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: I feel the same way.

Angela: And so I moved down here. I had a little bit of hiccups career-wise. I started bartending, I started working as a front-of-house manager. I wasn't really leaning on my degree so much. As years progressed, I can say that I already had bad issues with my teeth from the very beginning. I like to say that they're somewhat hereditary. Since I was a kid, I just had tons of cavities, I would get abscesses, and my teeth would easily break. I was having crowns and root canals in ninth and tenth grade. I feel like that's crazy, but it was kind of the norm—always having some type of issue.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: Did brothers and sisters have the same problem or?

Angela: I am an only child. And to really sweeten the pot, I was adopted by my parents. So I really didn't have any more hereditary information on—I don't know if that really is a medical thing, but...

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: That's a big, deep thing. Some of it can be your makeup of the bone, but a lot of it has to do with the bacteria of where you're raised and where you grow up.

Angela: Well, Staten Island probably isn't the greatest area! But so I came down here and as years progressed, my teeth were deteriorating and I wasn't caring for them properly because I was like, "Why bother?" As years progress—I'm 46 now, but we're talking in my late 20s, early 30s—my mental health was deteriorating. My career wasn't at a great spot. Happiness is an inside job, right? And I can honestly sit here and tell you that I just wasn't happy. I was seeking something that I couldn't find, and life took some ebbs and flows. During all that time—I can't put this any more delicately—but my teeth rotted out of my mouth. And I was really young, you know? My teeth looked like something out of a 90-year-old's mouth. I really wasn't able to dive into my career. I couldn't eat steak. I was ashamed, being in the front of the house and being in front of people. I love to spread sunshine, I love to spread joy. I will "cheese smile" in your face now, and you can't help but smile.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: I don't think your smile will offend anyone anymore.

Angela: I appreciate that! But at that time it was really, really difficult being in the hospitality industry. I can't begin to tell you how it really did affect my mental health.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: And so when we met, you were back kind of in the career?

Angela: I was. I decided I leaned on my degree and I went back to the back of the house so I wouldn't be around people, right? I was with other guys in the back of the kitchen that could have cared less and I was more accepting. I felt like this was my fate. I went to a dentist with the health insurance I had covered and I accepted the fate that I was going to be wearing dentures and smacking my gums for the rest of my life. I just wanted to feel better. Women sometimes—or men too—go through cosmetics to feel good about themselves. Well, I make a joke about it, like I got "boobs for my face," you know? But pulling the trigger was probably the easiest but most difficult thing to do because I knew that was my fate. No one wants to be like, "Hey, I'm going to go rip all my teeth out and it's going to be great." But I knew that that was going to relieve me of the pain I was experiencing emotionally and how I felt about myself physically. I was still getting abscesses and the hot and cold—it was a pain in the tukus. So I knew at some point that I had to take the dive and just do it.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: Yeah, teeth are really annoying in that if they don't cause you any problems or they're in a good healthy spot, it's something you don't think about at all. But when you're in your position, whether you're in food or not, we all interact with humans. That affects probably almost every minute of every day.

Angela: 100%. And not only that, like the discomfort. Going to the emergency room because I had an abscess and needed an IV was a normal thing. I would wake up and my face would be swollen. I'm like, "All right, I've got antibiotics in the kitchen." It was again something that I tried to just accept because my teeth were in a bad spot and I just didn't think that there was going to be a light at the end of the tunnel—you know, just how I felt and obviously my health. So crossing paths with you guys obviously changed everything.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: What's really cool is that you were relinquished. You had given in to the fact that you were going to be back-of-house, right? No interaction. And I would never, ever have left my business card for anyone ever—that would make me so embarrassed even thinking about it. But I'll tell my side of the story real quick. So my wife and I were staying at a hotel and we had a fresh new puppy. She was probably 3 or 4 months old. She was a little nugget. It was so great. She's been on here already twice. So we had her for about 3 months and we brought her to the hotel because the hotel was able to accommodate her. Angela came out and asked—I think they had already offered us a water bowl—but we had ordered food and Angela came out and said, "Hey, I noticed you have a puppy, and would you be okay if I made her a chicken breast?" When she came out and said that, it kind of threw me over. I don't know if I've ever had a restaurant come up to me and say, "Hey, that dog, do you mind if we give her some food?" just randomly out of the blue. And so that really hit me. But I noticed immediately that Angela didn't have any dentition on the top. Really, what you had was mostly just roots.

Angela: I would love to just rewind a little bit. A lot of the time when my teeth were deteriorating, I was experiencing issues. Sprinkle in the middle of that, in 2007, I did get into a little bit of a car accident which caused fractures in my teeth. I got 72 stitches in my face. Oh my God. They did a great job, by the way. But I had lost my front teeth and it come on this side. And then after that I was like, "Why even bother?" There's nothing there. As years progressed, they just deteriorated more because I really wasn't caring for them at all because I felt like, "Why even bother?"

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: They get to the tipping point.

Angela: Yeah. I missed that whole part. So but that was really what took it over the edge where I lost a lot of the teeth on that whole top side. So I was just dealing with that.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: And when you came over to our table, after you walked away, I leaned over to my wife and I was like, "I can tell that she doesn't really have any teeth. But I cannot believe that she just randomly out of the blue offered our dog food. That's just crazy." And I was really impressed. And we tried to convince you to pet her, but of course you were working so you couldn't.

Angela: I couldn't. I wanted to hug her so bad!

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: But it was really through Sadie that this happened. Because we would have never met otherwise. And I kept telling my wife throughout the whole dinner like, "I don't know how to bring it up, but I've got to leave a card to at least see if she even knows that this type of procedure exists, or who knows what kind of state that she's in." Like I have to let her know that this is something that happens. But I also don't want to say, "Hey, I noticed you don't have any teeth." That's a pretty embarrassing thing, too. And she ended up—no, no, we used the hostess.

Angela: Yes. The hostess ended up coming to me in the kitchen and she came over to me and she said, "You know that really sweet couple that had the dog? You know those weirdos? They left you a card and he wants you to call." And then I'm glad that you kind of said that because immediately my ego hit: "Oh my God, all he saw was that I had no teeth in my mouth." But I brought it home and my fiancé at the time—my husband now—I told him. I called and said they were just a beautiful couple and had the sweetest dog. And he was just like, "You literally just went to this other dental consultation two weeks ago." I was going to make the date and take off of work and pull that trigger on dentures. And he was just like, "Get a second opinion. See what he says." And I was just like, "Ah, you know, if I already got the other thing in play, let's just rip it off like a band-aid." So he convinced me and I made the consultation. I made the appointment.

And this is where it gets funny because it was a beautiful sunny day and I was off that day. I wanted—I was going to cancel because I wanted to go paddle boarding. I called my husband and said, "You know what? I'm going to cancel. It's beautiful. Let's take the boards out. The water is so flat." And he was just like, "Are you nuts? You have to go." And I was like, "No, look how flat the water is!" We live right on the beach, so we were able to see. And he was just like, "I really think we can always take the boards out after. Just go." And I did. I got dressed and I went in and I met your "angels" at the place. It was at that moment when I sat there with you and the rest of the girls that I was just like, "You know what, this is where my change was going to happen." I just felt internally that this was going to be a better experience than something I just had to do. Like I said before, women go to plastic surgery and they're really excited about the transformation. I felt that when I went into the office. I felt like this journey is going to be amazing as opposed to, "Oh my gosh, this is my fate, I gotta find glue for my dentures." It was a completely different vibe. It was a completely different experience. And I was excited about it. I couldn't book it fast enough.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: I knew when you showed up that we had you. But the chance that you were going to show up was low. Like I said, that's so out of my realm. I don't know that I've ever left a card or my office's number for anybody. I just felt like Sadie really brought us together.

Angela: I can't agree with you more. Sadie's connection. That's what the title of this one should be. No, but your wife—and she's so beautiful by the way—we had such a great conversation. I took the chance and by meeting the girls and meeting you in the office, I was able to really explain to you how hard it's been. You saw firsthand—I never show anybody inside of my mouth, ever. To be comfortable enough to open my mouth and let you take a look in there and not have that negative reaction like, "Oh God, what happened? You have a lot of work to do." It was more like, "Angela, I'm going to change your life." It was fantastic. I get emotional when I tell the story. It's just so great.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: And it's fun, that's where the excitement comes from for every staff member—we get to see the change. I always tell people that the reason why I'm "full in" on full arch is because you have the ability to offer that and have the confidence that that will be what comes from it without having to do any judging. I do not care at all what your background or story is. Not in a callous way, but I don't have to judge. I don't have to look in and go, "Oh my God, you lost all your teeth." I don't care. Because that's what I do. I hope you need your teeth replaced because then I can actually help you. But I want to touch on something real quick: your gut reaction of getting out the paddle boards.

Angela: I was gonna cancel! I was like, "I'm going!"

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: We see that all the time. That's the biggest problem with getting patients and keeping a full book—that's a normal natural human reaction. Find something easier, find a better solution for why I can excuse myself from not facing this head-on because you feel like it's going to make you feel bad. You feel like it's going to be this dark cloud. So we leave the bills on the table because the dog has to pee. We all do that. We don't want to know about what's wrong and we don't want to know about how to fix it. We used to do a lot of our marketing stuff and our commercials would wrap up with, "Take this chance, do yourself a favor and come in." We try to come from a point of compassion and say, "Don't make the excuse that day. Any other day is fine, but that little investment in yourself—we're not going to judge you, we're just going to fix you." That's a big move. And it's funny because the take-home is: leave your paddle boards home. Seriously. Come get your teeth.

Angela: And I can't reiterate enough how many years I just pushed it under the rug. Pushed it under and accepted, "Look, this is my mouth, this is who I is," and trying to be okay with it and walk with my head held high and say, "Hey listen, I just had a bad string of luck dentally. I'm still an amazing woman and a good person." I try to project that. But deep down, it's not great. I wasn't feeling great about myself. And being out in the world, you can't help but to see people's reactions. We live in a really cynical world and people judge. We're out there on social media and everybody's using filters. I tried everything in my power to make me feel comfortable with who I am as a woman and as a human. I do good to others and that makes me feel good. But when I looked in the mirror, I just was not happy. It was something I knew only I was going to be able to change. But now when I met you guys, of course you could change it. But I had to take that step and push forward, push aside my fear. That underlying fear is what kept me walking around like that for so long.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: Oh, absolutely.

Angela: And to put aside the fear and put my faith and trust into you, especially you and your team. Knowing that you were going to be there ripping all my teeth out of my mouth... Whoa, whoa, whoa! You know, but as crazy as it sounds, I couldn't wait to see you that day. I felt in my heart that I was going to be in good hands. I was excited to document it because I knew that it was going to change my whole face. I knew it was going to change the way I looked, the structure of my face, and then I knew the mental health side of it. The woman that I've always wanted to be—that "cheese-grinning weirdo"—that's me. I can do it without any qualms, just to be free. It is the greatest amazing feeling ever. Sitting in that office knowing what was going to happen—because you explained everything to me—I knew the couple of days after surgery wouldn't be that bad because I knew the end result was going to be way better than any discomfort. I would have gone in another three more days if I knew this was going to be... but surrendering to the process, putting my faith in you, that you have a solution to everything that I was mentally and physically feeling. I think the teeth are way better than boobs!

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: You have the nicest teeth in the room! Definitely. So, and that's a big deep part, too. We try very hard to tell everybody, no matter who you're going to go to, feel really comfortable with that person. Make sure that person is right. I'm not right for everybody. For some people, I'm too "Don't worry about it, it'll be fine." If you have a reason why the gut reaction is that I'm not the right guy, don't come here. Go to the other guy. The recommendation is if you're going through this process and you're documenting and doing your research, if you get a bad feeling from that office, run. There's plenty of people that do this. And the reason why this procedure is so fun, but also so frustrating, is it's such a deep experience for the patient to go through. Financially, it's a huge commitment. You've got to compromise your future to some degree—your wedding plans, whatever it may be. You've got to come to grips with what you're embarrassed about. Even if it's a perfect solution, you have to move through the fact that you need help from somebody else. There's this deep psychological journey that happens and then you also have to feel comfortable with the actual process and the people. End to end, this goes as deep and as far as you can extrapolate it. One of the biggest, deepest ones is the psychology behind it.

Angela: Oh 100%. And just those little acts of kindness for something that was so petrifying. For others, I can understand. My dad has a little bit of a dental issue, too, and in his 80s he's just like, "Why bother now? I'll be dead in 10 years, God forbid." But a lot of times people don't do it because they're afraid. It's not a pleasant thing. But I shifted my focus on the "endgame." And the endgame was a podcast with Dan, right? Like, "Hey, Ma, I made it!" The endgame was just a level of confidence that I have in myself that I'm able to present in the world. It was just like a snowball effect. My amazing husband, David—he loved me when I had no teeth—I was able to smile and take the most magnificent wedding pictures. I posted them on your site. It was spectacular. Not only that, my career has taken off. It all stemmed from me being more confident with who I am. More confident in my career, more confident in the ability to help others. I'm able to put myself on the front lines and not feel like I want to hide. Joy is contagious. Smiling is contagious. And I want to do it in everybody's space now, I really do.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: Happy to let you! Walk us through those steps. So the surgery... we don't need to get into that because that's what the rest of the podcast is for. It was worth it. But now you're done and everything. Walk us through, give us an update on how things have changed.

Angela: Oh, absolutely. Moving forward, I was able to build more confidence in myself. I was able to feel more beautiful internally and that obviously shined outward. I'm not afraid to talk. Maybe sometimes I talk too much!

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: No, this is your platform here.

Angela: And then, I kind of shot for things that seemed like a long shot and I just wasn't afraid to go for it. My husband and I started a business and we put all our eggs in there. We dedicate our lives to helping others and it has been a huge success.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: What is the business? What do you guys do?

Angela: We own Sunshine Serenity House. It's a sober living facility that helps men and women that are coming out of treatment to recover from drugs and alcohol.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: Okay. Wow. That's a big undertaking.

Angela: It's been very fulfilling. We have a really great group of guys right now that I help get food stamps, help them get a job, build a resume, and build their self-confidence. We just love them until they love themselves.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: Wow.

Angela: And I feel that I would not have been able to do that until I loved myself. It has been terrifying in a little bit because we purchased a house and business is terrifying. It is. But the rewards have been overflowing. We are able to help these people and give them the love and the security of a safe place. And again I can't reiterate that enough—I wouldn't have been able to do that if I wasn't internally okay. I did so much work on myself with meditation and prayer and connecting to my higher power. And I got to tell you, and I don't want to sound vain, but the chompers were the icing. It really catapulted me into a dimension of a life beyond my wildest dreams.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: You've done a good job characterizing it because it's not about what we see. Of course, there's judgments that happen with any human being. But ultimately it comes down to how you see you, and that's how you go forward.

Angela: It's an inside job. For the longest time I really didn't understand that. But I'm happy. I do the "next right thing." I'm a big advocate of doing whatever makes you feel sunshine on the inside. Follow that and do that. I've come along people like you guys—you didn't know me from Adam! We were strangers and you guys poured into me knowing that this was going to be it. Trusting complete strangers is kind of what I'm doing today. I have these complete strangers that are trusting my husband and me, and we're going to love them and give them the way. You guys knew a solution more than just the physical part. It was way deeper than that for me personally.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: I just made a random connection. I had an uncle and he would take the wildest trash you've ever seen and build things out of them. Just as an example, he used to take those 2-liter bottles and he'd spray paint them and cut them with a hot knife and turn them into those fish that they hang in retirement mobile home communities. Turning kind of trash into art with glitter and eyes and all. And what you were just saying about "pouring into"—what hit me is maybe one of the big reasons why we don't feel like we pass judgment is because we don't. We see that 2-liter already looks like a fish. You give me a green one, I already know what colors I'm using. Piece of wood—I say all the time that I like woodworking—just because a piece of wood is not what you're going to turn into art yet does not mean that I can't already see it. I don't even care what it looks like.

Angela: Broken crayons still color, right? I felt so broken, visually and internally, and it was just an incredible feeling to know that there was obviously a solution. But I had no idea the solution was going to turn me into the woman that I am today.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: What was the solution from the other dentist that you had talked about? What were you going to end up doing?

Angela: We were going to gently remove the rest that was left and we were going to do dentures, top and bottoms. I was already researching the best glue and I accepted my fate. It was really just a matter of taking the leap. I did not know anything about what you have created and what your organization does. I knew nothing about it. And it just seemed like... why isn't everybody doing this? It's just way better. I don't want to have to take them in and out and have to deal with that. The longevity changes because—laugh so hard they'll come flying out like...

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: That's the problem. It's harder on the bone. It doesn't preserve anything. You kind of whittle away to nothing. And so, this is a huge benefit and alternative. And we've talked about before, it's not out there in the public. For us, our reality is this is the only thing that ever happens. But truth is the public doesn't even know. I give random people a two-minute answer and at best they may know the big name chain one out there, but don't even know what that really is. It's pretty wild that that's the case. We all know what a crown is. We all pretty much know what a dental implant is. That one last step is the world knowing that this is even an option.

Angela: It seemed too good to be true. When I was sitting in the office and you delicately explained what we were going to be doing, I was just like, "Oh my gosh, this is it." And I'm not afraid to—they're like, "Oh my God, your teeth are so great!" At the beginning, I was just like, "Oh, thank you." I was owning them because they're mine now! But I'm just like, "You got to meet the people that did my teeth. They're fantastic." I encourage them—"You got all your teeth? Don't worry about it. These are better! Just go!" So I try to be a billboard. You guys are doing God's work. It's really amazing.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: We thank you. It's just what we do. To watch you change and see your life transform has been really fun. Walk us through the cooking side. You cook at home?

Angela: You want to laugh? When my husband hears this... I cook all day long at home. If you're going to push it on... I cook all day and I do not go home and cook for my husband! I'll bring him home food. But we don't do a lot of cooking at home. During season I'm there like 70 hours a week. It's a lot. But he's extremely supportive. As far as how things have changed for me and my creative aspect of it, just the ability to taste and try all of the foods that I really wasn't able to process has been very cool. Even like the simple things like almonds. The little tiny things that I haven't been able to eat properly since I was a child. Renewing that, being able to actually bite into a burger... the littlest things that I wasn't able to do for so long, which probably now will never go wasted on me.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: My dad makes fun of me when I'm sitting there chewing. He's like, "I hear you chewing those almonds over there!"

Angela: He's smart! He pokes fun that I'm able to. It's amazing. Yeah. It's pretty incredible.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: Still paddle board all the time?

Angela: Well, my husband has a hard time balancing on the paddle board, so we got kayaks instead! We strap them up and we go up to Jupiter often.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: Where do you live?

Angela: Currently we're on South Palm Beach. We just actually were in the process of moving away from there and downsizing so we can pour into the business some more and open up a woman's house.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: Where is that house?

Angela: The house is located right off of 95 and 6th Avenue. It's right in the Lake Osborne area. It's a freestanding beautiful home and we turned it into a loving house.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: Did you already have a site picked out when you guys went through this process of deciding or?

Angela: We didn't. We just knew that we wanted to have a safe place for people that were obviously wanting to turn their life around and to be able to have a structured environment for them. So we basically built that and it's been a success. The house is full right now.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: What is the day-to-day of a person that runs that look like? When you say 70 hours, what does Angela's day look like now?

Angela: It's a mixture. My first thing is obviously the restaurant. I look at that because my executive chef texts me constantly about closing. I'm the closing chef there. But during the day, I'm always in contact with the "boys" and I always stay available to them. We encourage you to go to meetings or work a 12-step program. We encourage you to surround yourself with like-minded people that are healthy for you and we just provide a structured environment. I have a house manager that kind of does the day-to-day stuff for me in the house and we just—if the boys need anything like toiletries or food, I bring it over so they can just continue their focus on their recovery.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: On a seven-day stretch, how many days will you end up there versus phone calls?

Angela: David and I are present at the house every Sunday morning. We have a house meeting with the whole crew and touch base individually, make sure they're okay. We stay connected through a group chat. We're called the "Mocktail Mafia." It's been really rewarding. And then sprinkle on top of that, me managing a kitchen of grown individuals.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: So you're still in the business?

Angela: Oh, yes! I am head sous chef over at a country club up in North Palm Beach. So, I actually have a golf day for you Dan!

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: Okay, we'll take it! That's amazing. So you still cook on a daily basis?

Angela: Oh, yeah. I manage the kitchen, do ordering, come in contact with the members and make sure the kitchen runs smoothly. It's a lot. Right now we're in summer, so it's been very gracious and very gentle, but come October, season's there and it's really difficult.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: Random golf question. Have you noticed that this summer has been a little bit slower than normal?

Angela: Very, very. We see it in the restaurant very much so. I feel that the weather up north was really beautiful and all of our snowbirds went up there a little bit early, but as soon as it gets cold up there, they're all going to come down here by droves for sure.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: This summer has been very oppressively hot.

Angela: Yes, very much so. It's brutal out there.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: Awesome. And the other question I was going to ask you was—I know you had been engaged for a while. Did you guys change your date at all because of the teeth?

Angela: No. When we got engaged after I got my surgery, we made plans for November 11th which is 11-11.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: Our anniversary is November 14th.

Angela: Ah, very cool. We did 11-11. It was extremely small. We walked right out on the beach and I got salt water and sand in my dress and it was... I wouldn't have it any other way. Perfect conclusion to a Staten Island girl. The day after we got married, I surprised my husband with two tickets to Staten Island. We flew there and I got to eat my way around the island with pizza and it was just overwhelmingly abundance of home food.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: That was probably just after your 3-month mark.

Angela: It was. July 17th was my surgery. It was right after my first-year exam. Everything was obviously peachy. I can honestly tell you, I really wasn't afraid that something was going to go wrong. Nothing could have been worse than an abscess and my teeth crinkling and cracking in my mouth. I was mentally prepared that if something was to go awry, it was going to be easily fixed by you. I put so much faith in you doc.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: Erica and I have that conversation every day. It's not whether or not anything can happen to them, because of course they can. They live in this universe like we all do. It's how it's handled afterwards. I want to keep as many black-and-white decisions on the table as we can have and eliminate all of that greyness.

Angela: I was ready to gently remove them all! I was ready to be done. It was brutal having all of that broken. I would bite the side of my cheek and it was a mess. That's how I felt about myself. I was scrolling through social media because obviously I follow you guys all the time and my little tidbit of a commercial came in and it showed my mouth open and I was like, "Oh no! Everyone's going to see now." And my husband's like, "Who cares? Look at you now!" That initial shame was triggering, and it took that one moment for me to realize: that's not you anymore. To look in the mirror and to see the end of the video—that's not me anymore. It was like the greatest blessing ever for us.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: It's never been you.

Angela: I appreciate that. And that's what made the decision so easy—you guys do dozens of these a week. You didn't make me feel like this is a special case.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: That's a big problem with dentistry. That convolution happens all the time where dentists wake up waiting for a "difficult" case to show how fancy they are. That's a frustrating uphill battle. But not every case has to be hard. When it comes to full arch, it's pretty straightforward.

Angela: The greatest thing that you said to me after the x-rays was, "you are a perfect candidate for this" and I was like, "I'm in!" Here I was sitting in all my shame and anxiety thinking nobody can fix me, and you were just like "you are a perfect case." Of course, I'm in. Where do I sign?

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: You were a perfect case. And you've been a perfect patient. Tomorrow I go in for my two years. You're one of the good ones! You show up and get your teeth cleaned because that is an important part. I had a good friend of mine that has this and she said the best way to describe maintenance is "it's not more work and it's not less work, it's just different work." Would you feel that's correct?

Angela: That's correct. I have a little portable water pick I take with me. But it has been a pleasure. You guys made it really black and white. It was really very simple. The only thing in the beginning was my speech—when I would eat certain things I would hear it click in my head—but all that went away. They are a part of me now.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: They fit your personality very well. So, Angela, what's your favorite dish to make? Your best dish? And your own personal favorite dish to eat?

Angela: My favorite personal dish to eat is any kind of taco. Corn tortilla, crispy. I cannot do soft corn. That's my go-to. I'm a fancy girl—lime and cilantro, a little avocado aioli. I can get crazy with the tacos!

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: I'm way more boring. I want it as cheap and down and dirty as possible. Flour tortillas. The fancier you make it, the less I'm interested!

Angela: All right! My favorite to make is an eggplant rollatini. Fried crispy eggplant with fresh ricotta inside, and a really great marinara. It's my dad's favorite. Cooking has been a labor—like a dance. I'm blessed to work under a really insane and talented chef.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: Do you bake at all?

Angela: No, I leave the baking up to my best friend who is a pastry chef. It is completely different. The measuring... I don't have the patience. I just go by Italian cooking—just throwing stuff together! Measuring cup? No. Just the judge.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: My husband's favorite dish is steak, or I just brined a whole bunch of really thick pork chops. Duroc. I brined them for 24 hours. Biting into pork chops... another thing I can eat now! I enjoy the process of cooking and the satisfaction of seeing it on the table. That's community.

Angela: And to be able to eat! I joked about the "soft diet" a few days ago—I was eating a soft diet way before I met you guys! It was an easy transition. But all the foods I always wanted to eat... now I'm pushing you out of the way to take the first taste and try it!

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: One really cool thing about hybrid dentistry is that no matter what the intention—health, looks, or just wanting to eat—the fallout is always a positive balance of both.

Angela: That was one of the things you actually said to me: "Do not be afraid to be picky." I was just like, "I don't care, give me anything!" But to take that minute to be picky with Nadia... I wanted it to be beautiful. I've come this far, why not take the extra mile to look hot?

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: Life is about compromises. But once you've made it through the hurdle of surgery and the expense, there is no compromise. Go get what you want.

Angela: Life has taken a turn of "Why not?" Do what brings you joy and makes you happy. I try to spread it everywhere like wildfire.

Erica: If you had to pick your one favorite ingredient while cooking, what would it be?

Angela: That's a great question. I would have to say curry. I love Indian food. Curry or a little cumin. It's a spice people don't use often because it's prominent, but it can be very delicate like me! Very in-your-face, but very delicate.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: Angela, I appreciate you taking the time. I know you're on your way to work for a dinner service. I hope this gets people encouraged that everything's going to be fine. Life on the other side can be the brightness and the sunshine you've shown today. Take the risk. We're not scary.

Angela: Put yourself first and pour into yourself. You are your greatest investment.

Dr. Daniel Noorthoek: I will give Sadie an extra pet from you today. Well, thank you again for your time. Person-to-person, human-to-human, we appreciate the time you guys have given us. We'll see you again next week.