We’re in Pennsylvania for my nephew’s wedding.

Yesterday, two hours before we were to walk out the door, Ava was snacking on a hard pretzel and the wire on her braces popped out.

Aren’t hard pretzels on the list of things not to eat with braces? Doesn’t matter now… just need to solve this.

Is there a nearby orthodontist? No, they’re all closed on Saturday.

Dentist?

They’re all closed, except for one – Dental Dreams. It has 25 one-star ratings on Yelp with multiple patients saying it should be named Dental Nightmares. Ouch.

But Sarah tells me our orthodontist said if this happened, we could put the wire back in ourselves.

Shining a flashlight into Ava’s mouth, it wasn’t obvious to me how to do that.

YouTube to the rescue.

The first result was a young, camera-ready orthodontist with a ring light who looked like an actor, the perfect ortho-influencer.

His video showed how to guide the wire back into place with a pair of tweezers.

Simple on a fake set of teeth with no cheeks or uncomfortable 9-year-old attached.

Not so simple in real life – it was like trying to thread a needle inside someone’s mouth using tweezers.

But we did it, with only one poke to the gums, and I officially earned my degree as a YouTube Orthodontist.

I’m also a YouTube Veterinary Technician.

You could say I’m the Deion Sanders of medicine – the rare savant who can operate on both humans and animals.

Two years ago our cat was diagnosed with kidney failure. The vet didn’t think she had much longer to live and told us we needed to give her subcutaneous fluids via an IV drip to keep her alive.

The vet’s instructions for this medical procedure were, “watch some YouTube videos, you’ll figure it out.”

Poking a needle into a living creature is an unsettling feeling. But Sarah and I did it, hundreds of times, keeping Blissa alive for two years before she passed away in July.

I never thought about a career in medicine, but since I don’t have a job, this could be the perfect time to expand my practice.

If you have an upcoming surgery and want me to give it a shot, let me know.

My areas of interest are the brain, heart, and lungs. Money-back guarantee if it doesn’t work out.

Photo is a screenshot of the YouTube Orthodontist who helped us out.