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. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
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It was a sunny Saturday in Lubbock, Texas, when the accident happened.
Raeanne Jones was eleven and had just watched a soapbox derby race on tv.
And of course, being eleven, I got it into my head that we just had to build one and maybe we'd push each other.
Raeanne and her friend found this old vegetable crate and decided to put some wheels on it.
So they crouched down in her driveway, started pulling nails from the crate, and that's when Ryanne's friend smashed her right in the face with the hammer.
I tried to pull my face out of the way and the hammer came up and the claw of the hammer took me up under my front teeth and then caught my lip and nose and it hurt so bad.
Her friend broke one of her front teeth in half and chipped the other.
They laid down and my mouth was just like, watering so bad.
Then I'm trying to scream, I'm trying to cry, but I can't make any sound come out.
As a kid, Ryan was all about adventure, even if it meant getting a few bruises.
Like when she was three, she jumped out of a treehouse just to see if she could fly.
And instead of dolls, she preferred skateboards and skin knees.
But this, this was a different kind of hurt.
I couldn't even breathe with my mouth.
Cause it hurt like every little bit of air on it hurt.
Oh, my gosh.
I remember this kid running across the lawn and he pounds on the door and he is yelling, misses Fultz, misses Fultz.
I killed Ryanne.
Ryanne's mom misses Foltz runs out and rushes Ryanne to the dentist.