In this first‑person testimonial, a female adult patient recounts her lifelong dental challenges—narrow jaw, crowding, night‑time grinding, a missing tooth, and low self‑esteem. Dr. Bill Hang designed a comprehensive orthodontic plan that first widened her upper and lower arches, then used a sequenced series of braces (upper retainer, lower braces, upper braces) over a 5‑6‑week cycle, completing the entire correction in about one year. The treatment created space for future veneers, corrected bite issues, and allowed a missing tooth to be replaced. Beyond the cosmetic results (wider jaw, fuller lips, ready for veneers), she experienced significant functional improvements: easier breathing, elimination of drainage problems, reduced migraines and neck/shoulder tension, and a surge in energy that enabled her to resume tennis. The patient also describes profound psychosocial benefits—greater confidence, a sense of spiritual and emotional growth, and a feeling of giving back to others. She praises Dr. Hang’s high‑energy, marathon‑running personality, his forward‑thinking, multi‑level approach, and the efficient, caring office environment. The testimonial positions the orthodontic experience as a holistic, life‑enhancing service rather than a vanity procedure.
Chapters
My teeth had never really been corrected. I had a very narrow jaw, a lot of crowding, and a lot of irregularity in the line. I was also, I believe, grinding at night, and some cracking was occurring in my teeth, which would have been You know, eventually a very big problem. So he explained to me that because my teeth were so tight and kind of scrunched inward, that my tongue didn't have enough room to relax and even maybe to breathe properly, and that at night I was grinding and there was tension. And that's when he made me aware of some tension that I was carrying. He explained that he would be moving out the upper teeth and then the lower teeth as well. And setting everything straight and even so that then when the veneers came in, there would be room. My teeth were also smaller on top than they needed to be cosmetically, and I was missing one tooth that he made enough space for, for another tooth to go in. Well, I've always wanted to be a more beautiful woman, and as a child, I never felt beautiful. I was one of 3 daughters. I was not flattered by my parents. I was a late bloomer in life, and I never had a sense of, oh, I was one of the pretty girls, at all. Completely the opposite. So all my life, I wondered about my beauty. I believe every woman has beauty within her, and it needs to be developed and encouraged. And as I grew up and got into different situations professionally, I sharpened other skills, but I wasn't as aware of my potential to become more physically beautiful. He showed me pictures of what he intended to do, and he described symptoms of people who, after maybe when they were younger and they had had orthodontia and perhaps had had some extractions, the orthodontia caused their jaw to narrow because of the extractions. And I believe that naturally the pressure of our lips and all push back in time, we all are more likely to narrow than anything. And that people after years were having tremendous problems with migraines, with breathing, with grinding, and that the correction of orthodontia in their life had even made a problem worse. So I had not had extractions, but I had never had any of my problems dealt with from a spacing point of view. And my younger son has had orthodontia, and I remember his jaw widening out and that I liked how it changed the look of his face, so I had a personal experience to relate that to when he explained my face would change a little. Total health benefit, and I had no idea what was wrong, and Dr. Hang explained that in trying to breathe, I was straining forward to create enough air passageway. Now, because my tongue is relaxed and I have plenty of room, I'm able to breathe very freely and naturally. The drainage is not a problem anymore. As well as the fact that it did change the cosmetic appearance of my face. My jaw is a little wider, lower. I have a fuller lip. I'm very pleased with the aesthetics of that on, you know, the outside. I was also incredibly impressed with the fact that he did my orthodontia in 1 year. That he had a strategy for moving my teeth and upper retainer, then lower braces, and then upper braces. And he had me on a 5 to 6 week schedule. There was never severe pain. It was, you know, my goal to get it done as quickly as possible. And from start to finish, it was about a year and 1 month. And that to me is very valuable, because as a professional, I did not want to be in braces longer than I had to be. And I got tremendous results in a very adequate and excellent amount of time. I've actually known other people who had facial structure where breathing and oxygen levels were inhibited. And it makes sense to me that if I'm breathing better, I'm getting more oxygen, I'm going to have more energy, I'm going to be able to process and burn my energy and be healthier. I had been wanting to get more physically active, but it was only while I was wearing the braces and breathing better that I finally had the energy and the impetus to go ahead and start playing tennis regularly again. And now when I play, I'm getting my aerobics, I'm not having any neck and shoulder strain that I had before. When I used to play tennis, I was more tight. So I'm seeing that there was a release and sort of a motivation and an energy that I wanted to then spend on doing something to make myself even more fit, which in my case is to play tennis. He wants to give them something that they will be thrilled with, not just Oh, it's okay. Just delight them, thrill them, take it to a level they've never experienced. I think he's so excited about what he does, and he helps us understand as his patients the opportunity of what we're experiencing. And he was so clear with me, Barbara, you're not going to believe how this smile is going to change your life. He was telling me those kinds of things. So I would then start thinking about that. And he was leading me in this very comprehensive process of changing not just my teeth. And he's not dry and analytical. He's delightful to work with. He's funny. He's high energy. He runs marathons. I mean, it's just an experience of life of full-throttle vitality, but disciplined and integrous at the same time. For me, it was never a question of vanity. Though I can see that maybe several years prior to, it would have been something I was not ready to do because I would have been doing it for the wrong reasons. So for me, I had to grow to a point where it was more of a service to myself, a respectful improvement on what God has given me to develop and to value and to deploy for work, that is to benefit others, including myself. And until I was at a place where I could really do it for the right reasons, I don't think I would have done it. I think I would have felt guilty or I'm not good enough or this is wrong or I'm doing it because it's a vain thing to do. But for me, I've gotten to the point now where I see that it has value on so many levels for so many different people for so many reasons that it again has been a very freeing experience. And something that I would have done, I would do it again if I had to do it over, absolutely. I think it's an inner sense of being good to yourself, investing in yourself, and growing and developing yourself. And this was maybe more of a physical way of doing that, but the benefit, of course, is psychological, is spiritual, is emotional. It's a big package. So I guess I, you know, from an inner blessing point of view, giving that to myself or giving myself permission to look more beautiful was a gift, and if it generates joy inside of me, it's gonna radiate that to others. He seems to me to be forward-thinking and looking beyond the obvious quick fix. He sees the big picture of how your teeth and your neck and it all works together, and he's able to explain that. So I would, I would ask people to consider, well, are you just getting your teeth straightened, or do you want to know how that's gonna impact your entire physiology? Because everything's connected. and how that then is going to evolve into having a cosmetic effect, maybe a spiritual, you know, positive effect. All these things are layered. And I think also that since Bill surrounds himself with really high-quality people, my experience of coming to his office was always outstanding. Everything about it was wonderful. I felt very taken care of, very attended to, very moved in and out quickly. No time was wasted, it was all optimized. So, I think in sharing with people that this is a unique approach to orthodontia, because he's approaching it on multi-levels, and their benefit is going to be on multi-levels, that that might be something worth exploring. And have they heard of that anywhere else? I hadn't. I just very fortunately was referred to him. I didn't even know when I walked in the door how what he does compares to what most other orthodontists do. But I know because my son had an orthodontic experience and many friends and their teenagers are having that, that no one's had anything or a story to tell like I have to tell, or an understanding of what now has happened for them. Maybe it didn't happen for them. Maybe somebody extracted, straightened, and that was it. And now they're going to have migraines in 5 years. I don't know. But I'm very confident that I have an understanding now of what's been given to me, and I'm very lucky that I met him. Yeah.
