Yet Dr. Alena Spielberg still remembers being a shy buck-toothed fifth-grader who needed braces. She still understands the difference a straight set of teeth can make in a child's life.

But at a price between $5,000 and $7,000, she knows it isn't something everyone can afford. With Smile for a Lifetime, Spielberg is making sure that isn't the case for at least a few patients in western Wake County.

"These families literally cannot afford braces," Spielberg said. "A lot of these kids are picked on, don't fit in well in social circles. They shy away from them. Kids are typically mean." She hopes to eventually keep a steady rotation of 12 Smile for a Lifetime patients.

Smile for a Lifetime, inaugurated in Arkansas in 2008, came to western Wake County after Spielberg went looking for something more than sponsoring baseball teams and giving dental health talks. That search brought her in touch with colleagues across the country and YouTube videos of grateful families embracing their orthodontists. When Spielberg's first three patients "received their smiles" in December, those videos were recreated in her waiting room.

"You could see the joy and relief of these really sweet kids," Spielberg said. "Now I'm witnessing it myself, so that was moving for me. You could see how a positive change in the way somebody looks will affect their overall confidence and feeling for themselves."

Since she opened her practice in 2000, Spielberg has come to learn that visiting the orthodontist isn't so different than visiting the dentist. "It's not always something people get excited about," she said. "It's something people either have to do or what their mothers want them to do."

But the adults in Christina Lashley's life weren't pushing her to get braces; it was all Christina's idea.

At Holly Ridge Middle School, the 12-year-old said her teeth were the butt of too many jokes over the years. The wisecracks weren't meant in a "mean way," the seventh-grader said. "But it still hurts."

As a "severe case," and with her 23-year-old sister as her legal guardian, Christina was an easy selection in the first round of applicants, Spielberg said. Her case was reinforced by a previous attempt to receive orthodontic treatment, only to have her insurance turned down. She also wrote nearly three pages detailing her plea, above and beyond what the application asked.

"I wrote more than a page," she said. "I wrote a novel, because I knew that getting into more detail would give me a better shot at it."

Christina's application required not only a personal essay but one from her sister Angela and one from her teacher Valita Papes, who recommended Christina after happening upon a brochure about the program.

"It just took someone who cared," said Angela Lashley, who cares for Christina with her aunt while juggling jobs at Old Navy and a substance abuse clinic. "It takes that one person to take an interest and make a difference."

Just two months after receiving her braces, Angela and Christina Lashley, are astounded by how much her teeth have changed. Before, Christina said she would give only half smiles in pictures, concealing a bottom row of teeth she described as "messed up."

Now, when the voice behind the camera says "cheese," her mouth widens. She finds her smile.

"In my essay, I said braces would not only boost my confidence, but even when people make fun of me, I'll know they're at least in the process of being fixed."