A mum left afraid to smile after having her teeth knocked out by an abusive ex says she can finally date again after getting them fixed in Turkey. Zoe Greenfield said that when she was around the age of nine she chipped her two front teeth after falling on some stone steps, so had big crowns fitted that she likened to 'fridge doors'.
But around six years ago, the 47-year-old claims she was punched in the face by an ex-partner who knocked out her two bottom teeth and loosened her top back ones, causing gaps to form. The mum-of-one said that despite getting dentures, the damage done made her feel so self-conscious that she'd cover her mouth with her hand or refuse to even smile.
After being quoted up to £30,000 to have them fixed in the UK, the primary school teaching assistant jetted off to Turkey last year for the procedures. Zoe had all of her top and bottom back teeth completely removed and replaced with implants before having all her top and bottom front teeth shaved down and crowns fitted.
After forking out £11,000 on the treatment, the singleton says it's been worth every penny as her confidence has since sky-rocketed as she no longer has to worry about being judged for the 'state' of her gnashers. In fact, the busy mum has been so over the moon with the results, that she's even hopes to get back into the dating scene - after years of it being off the cards.
Zoe, from Leeds, said: "It's absolutely fantastic. I love the result, I can't complain. It's just such a confidence boost. I just think that it's done now and I don't have to worry about my teeth. I'm probably never going to get toothache again for a start.
"It just makes me feel so much better. I don't think women are ever 100 percent happy with themselves but it was the main thing that I thought about all the time and now I've had it done - it's just brilliant. When someone's talking to me I'm not permanently thinking that they're looking at the state of my teeth because I've got nice teeth.
"I've been single for six years now, I've not had a date. I would like to date again but I've got a seven-year-old daughter and it's difficult for me to get out and about and everything like that. It's just made me more confident about dating. I would definitely go out on dates now, whereas before I probably wouldn't."
Zoe was a young girl when she chipped her two upper front teeth on some stone steps while horse riding. Zoe said: "Eventually I had to have them crowned but they were really big. Me and my friends would laugh about it and they'd call them fridge doors.
"That was one thing. But the main concern, which was why I had them done, was because my two bottom teeth got knocked out when I was punched. I've never suffered any form of violence from a partner before but just the one time an ex-partner hit me and knocked out my two bottom teeth and loosed my top back teeth.
"They eventually fell out and it made the other teeth spread, so there were a lot of gaps. I had to wear a plate all the time, so it's like a small denture with two teeth. That made me really paranoid and it's not nice to have something like that in, you have to take it out, clean it, and put it back in."
Zoe claims that after she was assaulted she spent hours in hospital as staff tried to save her teeth and when they realised they couldn't be salvaged, she went straight to a dentist. Zoe said: "When you're single and you're older and you think about a relationship, it just really affected me, I just wanted some decent teeth.
"If I went out drinking or socialising people would always say to me, 'oh, just smile'. They thought that I had a resting bitch face and that I was just really miserable. I probably definitely did have a bit of a resting bitch face. I used to cover my mouth with my hand and things like that.
"But I never wanted to smile because I hated my teeth that much. For the past six or seven years I've always been paranoid [about my teeth]. I'd never smile in photos, I just thought if I had the money then I'd get them done but I didn't have the money.
"I got some quotes in England and for the top and bottom you'd be looking at £28-30,000. I couldn't get it done here as it was just too expensive so I just decided to go to Turkey."
Zoe travelled to Turkey last February where she spent a week for the first part of her treatment and had ten implants fitted. She then came home and returned six months later in November to have them checked over before she had crowns fitted.
Since posting her experiences online she's been inundated with messages and spoken to around ten people from all over England over the phone who wanted to find out more. Zoe said: "I think everyone's got a right to be apprehensive [about getting their teeth done] because it's not a 100% success rate.
"It might not work for everybody as it depends on the health of your gums and all sorts of different reasons. But it's so expensive in England to have anything done to your teeth that I think the option of going to Turkey is sometimes the only option that people have.
"If your teeth are maybe just a little bit bent or not white enough, or really silly little things, I'd never tell anybody to go and get their teeth done because once you've filed them down that's it, you can't get them back.
"But then there's people that have maybe had drug use or those like me who've had teeth knocked out, with anything like that I just think that as long as you look into where you're going, then I would tell people to go, I really would."
