A woman forced to remove her own tooth due to a dentist shortage in her area replaced it with a £2 fake one she bought online.
Helen Sheen, from Scarborough, was unable to find a dentist willing to take her on in the two years since her previous clinic closed down.
Ms Sheen suffers from gum disease and noticed that one of her teeth had started to come loose, so she decided to take matters into her own hands, reports Yorkshire Live.
"I have bleeding gums every time I clean my teeth and it’s making me not want to clean them as I hate the taste of blood and all my teeth are getting wobbly," she said.
"One in front was so wobbly it had to come out as I couldn’t eat with it so I put Elastoplast on the end of the pliers and tugged it out."
After removing her tooth, Helen was left with a big gap in the bottom row, which she fixed using some glue and a £2 fake tooth from Wish.
"The only thing I could think of was melting glue and moulding it into the gap. It’s been two years now," she said.
"It’s working okay, I can actually smile without seeing a gap."
Helen's case is one of thousands that highlight the lack of NHS dentists across the country.
According to the British Dental Association more than 38 million appointments have been lost since lockdown.
On January 25, NHS England pledged an extra £50 million for dentists to provide additional urgent care for NHS patients, with funding available until the end of March paid on a sessional basis.
“Any additional funding is long overdue recognition of the huge backlogs facing NHS dentistry,” said General Dental Practice Committee Chair Shawn Charlwood.
“After a decade of cuts a cash-starved service risks being offered money that can’t be spent. Hard-pressed practices are working against the clock, and many will struggle to find capacity ahead of April for this investment to make a difference.
“Until today not a penny of the government’s multi-billion-pound catch-up programme had reached dentistry. This is progress, but must be just the start if we are to rebuild a service millions depend on.”
Emily Taylor, 23, from York, was suffering from a similar issue to Ms Sheen and when she tried to book an appointment she was placed on a long waiting list.
"I was placed on a three-year waiting list," said Emily.
"I'm forced to go private now. I'm worried if I wait too long I will develop issues which will cost me more money."
Emily has tried three different dentists in her area, but has been unable to sign up as an NHS patient.
"This morning I chipped my tooth, which was painful," said Emily.
"It was a reminder that I should sort out a dentist appointment as soon as possible."
Ms Sheen was asked whether she would continue to try and get an appointment, but she said no.
"I've given up trying".
"I’m 61, so let’s hope the rest of my teeth will be with me till I die."
For more stories from where you live, visit InYourArea.
