The value of good teeth

Planet Money

NPR

Business, News

4.6 • 29.8K Ratings

🗓️ 9 March 2023

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

As a kid, Ryanne Jones' friend accidentally hit her in the mouth with a hammer, knocking out her two front teeth. Her parents never had enough money for the dental care needed to fix them, so Ryanne lived much of her adult life with a chipped and crooked smile.

Ryanne spent a while as a single mom working low-wage jobs, but she had higher aspirations: she interviewed dozens of times a year for higher-paying roles that she was more than qualified for. But she never landed any of them. And to her, it really seemed like the only thing standing between her and a better job was her rotting, brown front teeth.

Our physical appearances can communicate a lot about our financial status. There are some things, such as clothing, that we have more control over. But there are other things that we don't — and they can have serious long-term economic consequences.

This episode was originally run as part of Marketplace's This is Uncomfortable podcast.

Reported by: Reema Khrais

Edited by: Micaela Blei.

Produced by: Zoë Saunders, Peter Balonon-Rosen, Megan Detrie, Hayley Hershman and Daniel Martinez. The Planet Money version was produced by Alyssa Jeong Perry.

Mastered by: Charlton Thorp

Music: Wonderly

Help support Planet Money and get bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is Planet Money from NPR.
0:04.0	It was a sunny Saturday in Lebic, Texas when the accident happened.
0:10.2	Ryan Jones was 11 and had just watched a soapbox derby race on TV.
0:15.1	And of course, being 11, I got it into my head that we just had to build one and maybe
0:18.9	we'd push each other.
0:20.3	Ryan and her friend found this old vegetable crate and decided to put some wheels on it.
0:25.0	So they crouched down in her driveway, started pulling nails from the crate.
0:29.4	And that's when Ryan's friend smashed her right in the face with a hammer.
0:34.0	I tried to pull my face out of the way and the hammer came up and the claw of the hammer
0:39.0	took me up under my front teeth and then caught my lip and nose.
0:43.2	And it hurt so bad.
0:47.0	Her friend broke one of her front teeth and half and chipped the other.
0:52.1	They laid down and my mouth was just like watering so bad that I'm trying to scream.
0:56.9	I'm trying to cry but I can't make any sound come out.
0:59.3	As a kid, Ryan was all about adventure, even if a man getting a few bruises.
1:03.8	Like when she was three, she jumped out of a tree house just to see if she could fly.
1:08.2	And instead of dolls, she preferred skateboards and skinnees.
1:12.1	But this was a different kind of hurt.
1:14.9	They couldn't even breathe with my mouth because it hurt.
1:17.9	Like every little bit of air on it hurt.
1:21.0	Oh my gosh.
1:22.0	And remember this kid running across the lawn and he pounds on the door and he's yelling,
	...

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