I'm wrestling with a mustachian dilemma at the moment. I am an early 30's professional, and am beginning to move up in my career. I am very good at my job and enjoy the work I do. One thing that is holding me back, however, is that I have some serious crowding/crookedness in my bottom teeth. It is to the point where I notice that coworkers and clients noticeably stare inside my mouth when I am talking. It is so distracting to me that I often forget where I am in conversation, and I've developed somewhat of a lisp because I try to talk without exposing my bottom teeth.
As much as I would like to believe that this stuff doesn't matter, and that you are judged 100% by the quality of your work, I know that this is not the reality. As my job becomes more and more important, I will be interacting with clients a lot more. I feel that if I do not get them fixed, I am seriously limiting my career potential. I am also afraid of finding myself at some point fighting both age discrimination and a less than stellar smile.
The problem, of course, is the cost to fix this. I received an invisalign quote for $7500. I would be willing to pay this because I see the investment in my career, but my wife is not quite on board. She agrees I could use some fixing, but doesn't see this as worth the money given that we have a bunch of student loan debt as well.
Any advice on how to think about this? Our household income is over 110k, and I know that would increase if I can fix this problem. It's just tough to stomach paying that much right now. But in the end, I will kick myself if never end up getting this done.