A Mascot with a Mission East Tennessee Orthodontics was founded in Oak Ridge in 2016 after Dr. Trisler left the US Army. We always knew that we needed something to represent the uniqueness and fun our office is known for so back in 2018 we created our first concept drawing of our mascot, snaggle. Snaggle is a saber tooth tiger with a very peculiar problem; his front teeth are tangle in a knot. It's a good thing that "snaggled" teeth are our specialty at East Tennessee Orthodontics.
As we used Snaggle for flyers, t-shirts, stickers, and advertisements his look evolved but his popularity continued to increase. We knew we needed a physical representation of our mascot. The internet is an amazing place and we were able to find a company that specializes in creating custom stuffed animals from drawings. After months of back and forth, they were able to produce a sample and Snaggle was now something that you could touch and hold. We knew that we couldn't keep Snaggle all to ourselves so we ordered an army of stuffed Snaggles to share with our patients and their families. Unfortunately, the facility that produces the stuffed animals was located in China and they had an extended shutdown at the end of 2019 that lasted most of 2020. This delay gave us time to decide what Snaggle's mission would truly be once he arrived stateside.
Dr. Trisler has been involved with many service organizations both locally and internationally since the founding of East Tennessee Orthodontics but heard about a newer organization through his church called Street Hope TN. He learned through Street Hope TN that every 2 minutes a child is sold for sex in the United States and the average age of that child is 13. This is Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking, the commercial sexual exploitation of children in the United States in exchange for something of value, like money, food, shelter or drugs, and it's happening here in our community. Street Hope TN is a non-profit organization that exists to eliminate the sexual exploitation and trafficking of these children in East TN through awareness, prevention, restoration and prayer, and is currently working to open the first safe home in East TN for young girls ages 12-17 who are survivors of domestic minor sex trafficking. This home is a place where survivors will find healing, hope and love. Our home is called Garland Oaks, which is derived from Isaiah 61 where the Lord says He will give the brokenhearted and those set free a garland of beauty instead of ashes and make them solid oaks, restored and firmly planted in Him.
We knew that Street Hope TN would be the perfect mission for East Tennessee Orthodontics and Snaggle to partner with. Beginning in 2021, we founded our Adopt Snaggle program. It's a simple program where anyone can adopt one of our mascots with a $25 or more donation to Street Hope TN. 100% of the proceeds from the adoption of Snaggle go directly to Street Hope TN and so far, this year we have raised over $1500 from our adoption program for this wonderful organization.
For more information about Street Hope TN visit
https://www.streethopetn.org/ and for more information on our Snaggle adoption program please stop by our office in Oak Ridge or Powell to pick up a Snaggle of your own to support Street Hope TN.
