A toothless charity boss was left too ashamed to smile after enduring years of cruel bullies branding him a 'gummy bloodsucker' has finally got new gnashers - and can grin again. James Anderson, dubbed 'the kindest plumber in Britain', said years of name-calling began when he attracted media coverage for the free jobs he carried out with his emergency plumbing and heating repair charity DEPHER UK.
The 54-year-old having only one tooth and 'a couple of stumps' left him feeling unable to smile in photos when local media wanted to cover his generous acts - which provoked more nasty name-calling. Vile trolls contacted the dad-of-six on social media calling him 'gummy, grandad and ugly' while one rang him branding him 'a bloodsucker who should die'.
After years of trolling, James' self-esteem took a battering and his anxiety sky-rocketed to the point where he felt suicide was the answer to his living 'nightmare'. In September 2020 James, who is married to 47-year-old housewife Barbara Anderson, drove to a bridge and considered ending his life, but thanks to the support of friends and family decided against it.
With the encouragement of pals, James set up a GoFundMe to raise the £1,700 he needed to cover the cost of his new gnashers and says being able to finally smile is 'life-changing'.
James, from Burnley, Lancashire, said: "I got my teeth done because I wanted to be able to smile and I couldn't. Since the launch of DEPHER in 2017 I've been in the papers and on TV and people used to say 'can you smile?' but I couldn't and I was too ashamed to tell them why.
"I didn't want them to know that I only had one tooth and a couple of stumps that were black and had crumbled away. If you put a wig and make-up on me I'd look like a witch when I smiled, it was horrendous.
"I look back now and think 'bloody hell, why did I allow myself to get to that position? Getting my dentures fitted three months ago was like Christmas, Easter, birthdays and anniversaries all at once.
"When the dentist put them in I put my teeth together and I nearly bit my tongue off because I didn't know what I was doing. Then I smiled into a mirror, the child that I knew when I was younger smiled back at me. It was an amazing moment, it was beautiful."
An unpleasant dental experience at the age of 10 coupled with being a 'rebellious' teen sparked the demise of his teeth.
James said: "When I was 10 I went to the dentist and had a filling at the back, I woke up with a massive blood blister in my mouth that burst. There was blood everywhere, I swallowed half of it, and I thought I was going to die.
"That was what stopped me from going to dentists, I was absolutely petrified of them. When I was a teenager I was a little bit of a rogue, I rebelled because everyone picked on me because I had bright red hair, a big nose and big ears.
"I was ugly, I was skinny, so I got bullied. I got into a position that I just gave up, I didn't care. I would get myself into situations where just staring at people and quite a few times I got beaten up and I lost a couple of teeth.
"On one occasion I got really beat up and I lost two teeth, then again I lost another couple. I had around 11 or 12 teeth left and I just gave up with them. The remaining teeth went through neglect, I didn't brush them regularly or go to the dentist.
"I just didn't care and thought 'what's the use of trying to make myself look nice? I might as well just stay ugly'. I just became what they wanted me to be, I lived my life on the pedestal they built for me."
This mindset turned around when he got together with his now-wife Barbara in 2011. James said: "We met in 2011 and got married eight years ago.
"I was self-conscious smiling and was forever using mouthwash just in case I had bad breath. I would put my hands up over my mouth and cover it up when I smiled.
"I was trying my hardest to save what I had because I thought if anyone deserves it, she deserves it but to no avail. Babs didn't care, she said 'you could have one tooth, 10 teeth, no teeth at all, it doesn't matter what you've got, I fell in love with what's in your heart, not what's in your mouth'."
James launched DEPHER UK in March 2017 to help the elderly, vulnerable and low-income families with pricey plumbing and heating problems for free or heavily-subsidised.
But as the media covered James's kind-hearted deeds, it also attracted unwelcome attention from bullies. James said: "The nasty names started off the back of the media coverage DEPHER was getting, people started picking at it I think because I was getting noticed more.
"It got to the stage were there were a lot of trolls trolling me on Facebook and Twitter and they were even ringing me. One guy rang me and said 'you look like a bloodsucker, you need to go and suck something that'll kill you so you'll die' and put the phone down on me.
"I thought 'why are you saying that? Why do you want me to die? All I'm doing is my job'. Years of name-calling made me very fragile, very weak, anxious and intimated.
"It got to a point where I just wanted to kill myself, I didn't want to live, I just wanted to end my life. I got pushed to a point where I was bullied and intimidated that much that I thought me not being here would be better.
"I drove to a bridge near a motorway and stood by the end of it and looked down, but I couldn't face living life without Barbara or my children. That's when my friend pulled up in her car and I went home. I sat down with my wife and my children and I had to tell them, I couldn't hide it any longer. I told them and they said 'just get your teeth done'."
Pals asked James to set up a GoFundMe to cover the cost of the treatment and within three days he smashed his £1,700 target. Despite being terrified of the dentist, James booked an appointment and got his teeth looked at in March, before getting dentures fitted in May.
James said: "I had to cancel a couple of times because I got that scared to get it done, but in the end I thought 'I need to this for my children'. I was petrified and was shaking and crying when I went in, it was like going to a torture chamber. I had to hang my head out of the window.
"The dentist was absolutely unbelievable, he understood every single thing and said not to worry. I had all four teeth removed four months ago and later had my new dentures, top and bottom, put in.
"I feel more confident talking to people now. I can go out and have a meal with the wife and I'm not scared of the people working there looking at me or any of the customers looking over at me trying to eat.
"To remove all that kind of stuff is magic. I make sure people see my smile now, it's definitely been life-changing.
"I hope at some point I'll be able to look at those people [trolls] again and say 'yeah at one point I did only have one tooth, yes I was 'ugly' when I smiled but look at me now'. If anyone is in the same position I found myself, I would tell them to reach out and talk to someone. Don't live in a nightmare, it's not worth it."
You can donate to DEPHER UK'S page here.
