How Fixing My Teeth Lightened My Mental Load | Ep 403

How Fixing My Teeth Lightened My Mental Load | Ep 403

A simple, visible change can loosen a heavy mental load. That’s the heartbeat of this conversation as we open up about finishing adult braces, why a “cosmetic” decision wasn’t vanity at all, and how incremental progress restored confidence one tray at a time. We trace the arc from childhood brackets and outdated retainer advice to the slow, decades‑long relapse that quietly shaped self‑image, social habits, and mental health. If you’ve ever avoided photos, hidden your smile, or carried shame into the dentist’s chair, you’ll recognize the weight—and the relief of finally putting it down.

We talk through the realities no one puts on the brochure: soreness in the first weeks, the discipline to wear aligners nearly all day, removing them to eat, and the nightly ritual that keeps results intact. Money, insurance, and access are part of the story too. Orthodontic care is a privilege, and acknowledging that truth sits side by side with gratitude for the chance to try again. Along the way, we unpack why visible progress matters so much for mental health. When you can measure change—tray by tray, week by week—you rebuild trust with yourself. That trust spreads to other habits: brushing, flossing, healthier choices, and kinder self‑talk.

By the end, the takeaway is bigger than teeth. Choose one change you can see, track it, protect it with habits, and let that momentum spill into the rest of your life. That’s also how this show crossed the 400‑episode mark on a zero‑budget model: small steps, repeated with heart. If this story nudges you to start your own visible change—therapy, movement, decluttering, better sleep, or a long‑avoided appointment—consider it a win we can celebrate together. If you found value here, subscribe, share with a friend who needs a lift, and leave a review so more people can find their next small step forward.

Chapter Markers

0:00 Gratitude And Milestones

2:18 Braces Past And Teeth Relapse

5:15 Mental Health Weight Of Appearance

6:44 Deciding On Adult Braces

7:51 The Aligner Routine And Discipline

9:11 Finishing Treatment And Relief

10:50 Confidence, Smiles, And Self‑Judgment

13:07 Cost, Access, And Gratitude

15:46 Progress As Motivation

19:03 Retainers And Long‑Term Habits

22:08 Perspective On Healing And Helping

26:10 Bigger Mission And Ongoing Struggles

29:05 Global Impact And Closing Thanks

#TeethTransformation #MentalHealthAwareness #SmileMakeover #ConfidenceBoost #DentalJourney #OralHealthMatters #SelfImprovement #MindsetShift #PersonalGrowth #FixingMySmile #EmotionalWellness #TeethWhiteningExperience #HealthyMindHealthyBody #PositiveChangeJourney #BeautyAndWellness #justiceforsurvivors #VoicesforVoices #VoicesforVoicesPodcast #JustinAlanHayes #JustinHayes #help3billion #TikTok #Instagram #truth #Jesusaire #VoiceForChange #HealingTogether #VoicesForVoices403

Chapters

• 0:00 Gratitude And Milestones
• 2:18 Braces Past And Teeth Relapse
• 5:15 Mental Health Weight Of Appearance
• 6:44 Deciding On Adult Braces
• 7:51 The Aligner Routine And Discipline
• 9:11 Finishing Treatment And Relief
• 10:50 Confidence, Smiles, And Self‑Judgment
• 13:07 Cost, Access, And Gratitude
• 15:46 Progress As Motivation
• 19:03 Retainers And Long‑Term Habits
• 22:08 Perspective On Healing And Helping
• 26:10 Bigger Mission And Ongoing Struggles
• 29:05 Global Impact And Closing Thanks

Transcript

Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: 0:01

Hey everyone, it's Justin here at Voices for Voices. Thank you so much for joining us on this episode of the show. As always, we're grateful to have you with us. Uh, no matter where you're at in the world, uh, we are grateful for you being with us. Uh, we've had one heck of a year, uh, the year of 2025. Uh we have blown past goals in a positive way. Uh, as this is an episode that is over the number 400, and when we were only gonna be over 300. Uh we have just been blessed with so much positive energy and momentum from all over the world. Uh you hear me talk about how many countries, how many cities, how many provinces, you get all that, and can't stress it enough that it's because of you that we have a show, that we have a podcast, that we we've been able to take a number of three hundred and make it over four hundred. It it's because of you that helps me wake up in the morning to to share and to help and uh everything. Every bit of my being is with voices for voices, which I think it's pretty pretty clear now. If it hasn't been, it is. Uh so let's get going. Okay. So when I was growing up, I had braces. So, you know, the silver braces with the brackets, and got to pick my colors, the favorite teams, favorite colors, and all that. I had them twice. Uh two different times when I was growing up. About well, it's been over over a year. Yeah, it's at least over a year, if not a year and a half. I was uh it's been in my mind, right? So I've you know my bottom teeth here, okay. So those got really crooked, really crooked. I don't know how I just they they they got really crooked. And this is again after having braces two times growing up. And what I've been told, I don't know if this is what everybody's been told, is uh, you know, technology, the research, you know, back in the uh back in the 90s, uh, you know, 80s, 90s, uh was that you didn't need a retainer uh to keep your teeth where they ended up with the braces. And so years and years and years and decades go by in my life, and uh it's literally watching like a slow motion movie of my teeth just going from as close to perfect, um you know nothing's perfect, so it's close to perfect to being anything but but that and money's a big part of a decision like this, so I haven't had plastic surgery, I haven't I haven't done that, I don't get Botox, I don't um but for my my mental health, my um the crooked teeth just ended up being another thing, just one more thing to you know kind of knock myself down in my mind of saying, oh Justin, you got crooked teeth, and oh if you have acne, and you know, but you're and so all these thoughts are again marinating in my head. Again, this is this is for the most part without the technology that we have today, like the smartphones and the TVs and and and and all that. Uh so I just pray that our our children are are able to course correct and the schools um and organizations and companies you know get off the the the accelerator of profit, profit, profit, bonus, bonus, bonus, shares of stock, money, money, money. And they actually think about people, people, people. Um so yeah, it was about you know a year and a half or so ago in the current time here. Uh so I'm over 40 years old, and I had heard and seen about you know the different options for braces, and and I knew it was gonna be some time, that it wasn't gonna happen overnight. And I finally pulled a trigger, not on any weapon, let me just say that uh I I went and went in and saw an orthodontist that was recommended by my dentist, and then I got started uh on on kind of that I guess the third time, third time with braces, and so that's what I did. So that was a thing from a confidence, from a mental health, that it was definitely a work in progress, but I could at least see this work in progress, uh whether it was day by day or week by week, uh, because it seemed like you know, every week you get a different set of retainers, and then they would, you know, they you know be computer, you know, set a computer program that would take from like where the what the teeth look like to like where they were gonna end up. And every week there were a set of you know top and bottom for me, top and bottom retainers that I would wear for a week uh for everything except you know uh eating uh and uh pretty much eating uh and and you know drinking trying not to drink soda, but if I'm gonna drink soda, you know, take them out and and that. So pretty much wear them all day long for the most part, try to. And I just finished up here in 2025, about I don't know, maybe a month ago. I'm not sure exactly, I I have the exact date, but it doesn't matter. What matters is it was part of my mental health that was holding me down. You know, I talk about having you know 138 different things, you know, at and on 2017, and it was just like dominoes that once one started falling, then they all just they all fell kind of at the same time. And I didn't even have you know crooked teeth, I don't think, on that list. But it affected so many things in my life, like smiling and uh adding you know confidence and my mental health was already teetering you know with that mental illness, no matter what, regardless of the teeth or not. Um, I mean, I'm lucky that I'm I mean, yeah, I have cavities and they're filled and all that, but for the most part, like I'm lucky with original teeth, and so I have that to be grateful and thankful for. And so in 2025, I was able to close out the um the braces chapter, and so now with the research that's out there, I have an upper and and lower retainer that I wear at like 10 to 12 hours a night. Um and so yeah, that that's what is is gonna keep my teeth where they're at until I I guess I eat too much sugar, drink too much sugary drinks, and they fall out. I I don't know. Uh but I can tell you that that part of my mental health and that part of the depression that I I've been kind of suffering from it's not there anymore. And I know it's not an option for everybody. I am grateful to uh have I'm grateful to have had the option that I did to be able to get kind of that you know third time's a charm. And so now now when I uh smile, if I'm in the pictures, more more than likely I'm smiling or at least trying to trying to smile, and I'm and I'm not trying to kind of cover up or make sure to only like the top, you know, the the my top teeth are showing because those were the in the best shape from a uh uh I don't know, I don't even know what the the word is, but uh I guess shape uh from uh whereas the the bottom and the and the middle were just they they were very crooked and you know I and there was nobody really to blame. I can't blame anybody. I I had two two cracks, uh you know, braces when I was growing up. There's a lot of people that don't even have a chance to do it one time, and because it costs money, yeah, then then there's insurance. And if there isn't insurance, then unless you know money's just available, you can't do it, or it makes it even tougher to do it. So that's one thing I'm grateful for that, and you've probably if you're watching, if you've been a viewer or uh of our show over the course of time, that might be one thing that you may notice uh over the course of time that whether I'm laughing or smiling and might not be for a whole extended period of time, uh, but but that wouldn't that wouldn't happen on you know three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, you know, years ago. Um I would I would still if I had the opportunity, uh if I look back when I hit rock bottom, if I was if I was, you know, the pieces were, I mean, pieces were just starting to come together with my team. Um with uh, you know, on the mental side, uh that you would saw even even a more uh of a transgression over time uh of just facial expressions. Um and so that's something in 2025 that uh okay, yeah, it's a cosmetic thing, and I'm not trying to prove anything. All I'm trying to say is that affected my mental health, having crooked teeth, and again, uh a lot of the excuse me, a lot of the or a decent amount of it probably had to do with the many years of you know alcohol consumption, binge drinking, just being you know hung over and just not taking care of my teeth, and maybe I could have took care of this a little earlier and sooner, but it doesn't matter. I can look back, and I think we all can look back, a lot of us, not ever every single one of us, but some of us can look back and say, Well, yeah, if we I would have done this, you know, 10 years ago or 20 years ago, to make a big difference. And and I'm I'm like that. Oh, if I would have done this, if I wouldn't have done that, uh then this thing wouldn't happen, and then that thing wouldn't have got worse. And uh so I wanna wanna say from a just as a complexion, a cosmetic thing that uh I had braces and they were uh over a year and a half, closer to two years, I think. I think originally it was gonna be a year and a half, but I think we got closer to two years because I think I I got a little bit lazy kind of towards the end. They say they get senior itis when you're going through school, when you're getting close to graduating or or anything where you're getting close to the end of the school year, where it's like, all right, um, I'm gonna be done with this year in a week or four days or two days. Um I think that probably played a little bit of a part and stuff, pushed me back a few weeks, but I couldn't be more happy with you know how things have have turned out and and so that was a decision that I I I made and I again grateful to have had the opportunity to do it. I could have done it so much earlier. I I just had so many areas of my mental health and with the mental illnesses and everything that's going on that I had to take care of, you know, kind of like the brain and and and get that at least on, you know, get that course corrected as much as possible, uh, so I can could at least I mean there were there were years that I didn't go to the dentist, and I had I had dental insurance for a majority of those, some I didn't, some I did. But that it was just like I'm just gonna go and I'm probably gonna have another cavity, and then it's gonna cost more money, and uh, and then it's you know, even if it's even if I wasn't being shamed, um I would I would internalize that of like they're probably like yep, every time Justin comes in, he's got another cavity or two, and yep, we're gonna you know, hit the lottery, we're gonna you know be able to get more money from his insurance, and and I don't know. I don't know that any of those conversations ever took place with dentists that I've had in the past, but I will say this that once I got my head on as straight as it's gonna probably get uh probably 2017, 22. It's been a few years, uh, but before like the braces, I had over 20 fillings, so I guess you know, right you got the front of the tooth, and then and then you have the back of the tooth, and so you could on one tooth, you could have two filling your two cavities. Uh and so I had so many, I think it ended up being oh it was at least three different visits of like a couple hours every every visit to get the cavities filled and to just get there. And so I would every time I would go in, I would in my mind I was being ashamed. It wasn't that anybody said anything, but in my mind, that was just where my mind went to a little bit less than years and years and years ago, but that's where my mind went. I was like, oh, there comes, you know, we're gonna fill five cavities today or six, and then he's gonna come back in a month, and then another five or six. And I mean it was and I'm not trying to say that you know, my teeth are so beautiful and so much better than anybody, it's not that. it it's it's in my mind that I now have a smile or just teeth that I can kind of open my mouth like when I'm talking you know when you watch TV or watch a show and it's like man they've really got perfect or what looks to be perfect teeth and look how you know white they are and um and it's like how how does how does a person get teeth that straight forget the the white whitening part of it but uh and so that's something that I'm never gonna take for granted. And so the technology and the research changed and so yeah I have a you know an upper and a low retainer that I I wear now at night and that that'll help keep the teeth in the in the spots they're supposed to be in. And so that's something that I am very very grateful to have been able to go through that process because it was you can say oh well you know at least you don't you didn't have the silver one silver braces yeah but I still had I still had to wear these a very high percentage of the day and I wasn't going to be able to move on to the next set like they would come in maybe sets of like 10 or 12 and so every visit it might give me like eight or seven or you know a number like that maybe like half or somewhere around there and so there was still that dedication of I could have quit I could have just been like this is just too much of a hassle but I was starting to see progress so very soon in the process I was seeing progress that I was just I mean almost like brought to tears because it was like with my acne that I'd had acne and you know pimples and whiteheads and black I'd had them for so long that it I mean I felt like a human but I I felt that I was just like a tarnished person that like I'm not even talking about like you know relationships with uh you know girls I'm talking about just like having the relationship with you know people that I was playing a sport with that I just I just couldn't fit in and I know a lot I know a lot of us go through that um and so the teeth really um just you know just multiply that out by some number and that's how I felt and had been feeling for years and years and years and again and it was the research of the orthodontist has nothing to do with the family it because they did two braces two rounds of braces for me two I could have quit after one they did two and so here at 2025 I uh I know I I've spent what twenty five twenty six minutes talking about this but it is uh such a big part of the mental health the you know how we see ourselves in the mirror whether and it's not I don't know it's not even it's not even the attractiveness like oh wow like I it it like oh look I I have nice teeth big deal we're um you know we're not gonna be able to take a teeth with us like we're not gonna be able to take the money with us or not gonna be able to take the house or the TV or um you know we're not gonna be able to take those things with us when we when we leave earth like and in our earthly body uh so it's you know take it for what it's worth uh and it was worth a lot for me it was worth the money because of what I was envisioning and we were just getting kind of started with this whole uh voices for voices TV show and podcast that I thought that that was another another reason why uh I could I could sell my own self like all right Justin we can do because of this and that and the other thing and and so that's kind of where I was at and here we are and everybody had to do their part you know the orthodontists had to uh you know do their checks and their their pictures and uh all the uh x-rays and and and give me the uh you know they come in these little bags with like a number so if it's let's say you have 12 12 weeks so it'd say like one out of 12 then the next week would be two out of 12 and then three and so it's a lot of that is checking and making sure that all that is lining up and and so there are there are a lot of lot of different roles to play by everybody uh in the process and I get it that's what their job is that's what that's what they get paid to do uh but I am just so grateful to have had this opportunity to get the braces again and I remember going in the first day for kind of like what I you know the initial consultation to look at you know are you gonna do it or aren't you or I mean I was ready I did I think I had the checkbook ready I mean I I was ready to like I was like Sonia like yes yes this is what I want this is what I want and I remember the high uh the hygienist uh the uh that I spoke with and everybody was so kind and I mean yeah they're you know they're trying to get another client and you know they see you know dollar signs and you know I get all that um and I I remember saying to her that uh I never thought that I would be you know where I'm at and being so happy to like get get started and she told me she's like like you're not the only one there's a lot of people you know your age younger older that come in and it's the same little bit of the same story some of them maybe never had braces before uh but they were she said there was there's so many that so many people come in because they were going to be able to see that progress over time and I think that's one of the areas with you know whether it's mental health or physical health or anything that it if we don't see progress it's it's hard I don't say it's hard to continue. It's like you start looking for an alternative way to do something uh but it was something that wasn't like that it was something where I could see over time how and I could feel uh you know the first tray or two it was like first week or two I mean it hurt like I mean it was I don't say it hurt it would it was just like very uncomfortable soreness in my mouth that's because I my teeth were being introduced to something new but once we got going I was able to see shifting and then a little bit more shifting and a little bit more and it even was this last round of trays that I had like the last eight weeks I think it was what I had I either had six or eight weeks uh on this last go round and it was almost all the way up until like maybe that last two weeks that I was still feeling and seeing my teeth adjust even so slightly right because we're so used to judging ourselves even though we try not to and I try not to and I talk in the show about trying not to but we do sometimes we do a lot I do a lot I try not to but I do and I think it's it's that type of judging that I was just showed how much judging of myself I had been doing that over two years that I still noticed just the time you know the slightest movement into the spaces and uh into the shape of my the smile that I have now with my teeth and it's the same thing with the the retainers at at night that I if I want to keep if I want to keep like this I I need to keep with the retainer I need to like there's just no other way. I think there might have been like one night where if I was traveling or something where where I didn't um but it's it trust me from somebody's head now three go rounds with braces I'm ready I you know I've I've done been ready I went through the process this third time the research says you need the you need the retainers wear them at night to keep everything as close as in place as possible and so I don't need to be sold anymore I might need to sell myself like just go take those 20 steps to the bathroom and go get those retainers on um like sibling it like that and I totally was not planning to put 35 minutes on on this on this particular episode but it shows how just how much my teeth meant to my mental health and still means that my mental health it's not taking my it's not my mental health isn't my mental illnesses aren't aren't healed I'm gonna I'm guessing I'm gonna have very various degrees throughout the rest of my life and and you know you know with the the the other diagnoses that I have but it's one less thing so you hear me talk about one one person if we can help one person step off that ledge or even think help that one person is even thinking about getting up on a ledge and thinking about ending things for themselves I know a life and teeth they don't correlate the the big difference is one is teeth like bones and the other is a life for me I I I with what's happened with my teeth which the transformation that's happened I feel like I help myself so when you said like I when I when you hear me say well I know I we we we've helped at least one person I've helped myself and my teeth is just one one of one of those areas and to put 35 40 minutes on a show about it should tell you all you need to know I'm not trying to put that on the same level as you know somebody that's on the ledge or thinking about it or other other means and ways not trying to not trying to equate those as the same all I'm saying is I was able to help myself so I know that I and we have voices for voices and mythical creatures around the world and what we're doing is truly helping people even if it's just watching the progression of my mouth whatever that may be I've been a little fancier when I call it with the hair a little wire whatever I wasn't doing that five years ago. Wasn't I don't I'm it was just like alright one day I just did it and I was like okay well it's something new doesn't stop it's not stopping the gray coming in but the evolution of my teeth I just hope that helps anybody anywhere across the world if it can help in one little way or a big way somebody's going through the same thing. I I had I crooked teeth and it was I I felt like it was my fault and it wasn't it was the research it was out thirty five, forty years ago thirty-five you know years years ago or so and and so it's easier to say hind you know looking back hindsight's always 2020 from like a vision like oh well of course if I would have that information back then I probably would have still had the retainers or I may not have had to have gone all these years but that again that's only one aspect of my mental health my mental illness that really just dug and you know dug root and spread but it's one heck of a way to do a a small thing as you can tell it's not by as as long as the show is going that it's a it's a bigger thing than what I'm letting it on on to be and it's not because I want to I want to be compared and looked at with all these celebrities and that it's not that it's for what it's doing on my mind where I can I can take the weight off of my shoulders that I've been carrying around about my teeth. Yeah I got cavities filled yeah I got crowned I think I even had a new root canal and all those things did not cr fix the crooked teeth and I felt you know years back when I had that decision when I was deciding if I was gonna do it or not I was like okay well I'm in my 40s if I'm gonna do it I gotta do it. If I'm gonna get yeah if I'm gonna get use out of what I think might be a positive if I'm if I can lift a a weight that I can see I'm gonna get I I'm gonna get copies of these pictures and I'm gonna show you uh I don't think I go for I gotta look in and see when my appointment is I think it might not be till like maybe March or so but uh just to show you I want copies of them of where they're at where they were and then where where we're at and again it doesn't help with the brushing I still have the brush and flaws which again for somebody with depression that's still not the easiest thing for me to do sometimes I go a day or two or three where it's like yeah just do mouthwash today so I just spent you know 40 minutes talking about my teeth and that's just you know the curvature and and and the shape of uh you know crooked not crooked ish type of type of deal uh there's still the brushing and flossing and brushing and flossing because if I don't do that then all this money again is gonna be for not and I don't want that nobody wants that wow 43 minutes it's uh it's very uh it's very near and dear to me it's it's something that is so intertwined with everybody's mental health not just mine I'm just trying to show how something like my teeth like I said just take a look take a weight off of my shoulders maybe it'd do the same thing to you for you maybe it's something else I don't know but by us continuing with these shows continuing the organization continuing with uh the the books and the content and everything we have planned the fact that we have literally a zero budget model and we blew past our goal by over a hundred episodes this year so that doesn't prove that if you want something bad enough and there's a and there's there's some things I'm not uh not gonna be able to talk about for a while if if if at all uh that have been really some some not not good thing, not fun things that I've been dealing with personally so that's what makes us all the more all the more validated in what we're what we're doing because there's so much that we haven't shared and uh for one reason or the other I kinda got a little you know a little tears starting in my eye and you know I'm doing this episode on teeth and I'm not a dentist. I'm not a hygienist I'm not I'm that's not my profession. My profession is just being myself and trying to help people trying to help over three billion people over the course of my lifetime and beyond I think we're we're we're doing good I think within two years of reaching over a hundred countries and territories in over a thousand cities over four hundred episodes again this time last year we were at maybe like 160 maybe because I think we were looking at trying to hit like a hundred episodes I think we were like around getting close to 200 but we weren't even at 200 so we we were gonna experience you know quite a bit of growth but we we experienced that growth and that's for sure so as always thank you for being a part of our voices for voices podcast and TV show if you can share share share subscribe subscribe subscribe give us a big thumbs up like uh text 25 your friends or family members your followers let them know about the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast we are and I don't say this lately we are behind uh only the Joe Rogan experience in the hottest show on the planet the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast it's a name to get used to it's a name that you want to be sharing with your friends your loved ones your colleagues uh your players if you're a coach uh your congregation your parishioners we got love for every one of you whether you're a believer or not we still pray at the end of every night for not only ourselves and our families but for you and everybody across the whole world so we love you we're thinking about you we hope you're happy healthy prosperous now and going into the year 2026 so this has been Justin Alan Hayes with Voices for Voices TV show and Podcast Podcast and TV show doesn't matter how you say it it we do both the same thing just one file is a video file another file is an audio file and um so we'll see you on the next episode so let's celebrate everybody's voice everybody has a voice let's celebrate it and let's be a voice for you or somebody in need that you know we'll see you next time and we have nothing but love for everybody.