A 23-year-old had to learn how to smile again after she lost all her teeth during a six-year battle to beat drug addiction - and is now beaming thanks to a perfect set of dentures. Faith Hill, who became hooked on meth when she was just 14, has been sober for two years since she quit her addiction in July 2020.
But it robbed Faith of her smile, as the habit left her with just 14 rotting teeth left in her mouth. In August 2021 Faith had surgery to have them removed and her new teeth were fitted in November of the same year.
Faith realised she had to learn to smile again after being so used to keeping her mouth shut to hide her rotting teeth. Now she is rocking a new set of dentures and says her journey has made her a stronger person.
Faith, a social media influencer, said: “I had no salvageable teeth, so I decided to have them all pulled out and went toothless. Seeing myself with dentures for the first time was so shocking. I had to practise how to smile, as it had been so long.
“I didn’t know how to move my mouth around. Now I look back at my addiction self and I don’t recognise her. I’m a completely different person now.”
Faith realised she needed to get her life back on track after being addicted to meth for six years. “It wasn’t a normal life,” she said. “I hardly went outside and lived in hotels or even wondered the streets looking for a place to stay.”
But after going to rehab to get sober, Faith decided she wanted to do something about her teeth.
“They were awful,” she said. "I hadn’t smiled in years because of my teeth.”
Faith applied for a grant to get the money needed for the surgery to remove the remaining teeth and a friend on Facebook offered to pay for her first set of dentures.
She added: “When I saw myself with teeth again for the first time it was so surreal. My friend was so gracious in paying for them and just said ‘I just want you to smile again in return'.
“Now I have an even better new set which make me feel so confident. Now I love to smile.”
Faith, from St Louis, Missouri, USA, wants to break the stigma surrounding young people and dentures.
She said: “People think it’s only old people with dentures. But lots of young people have them for loads of different reasons.
"I had dentures fitted just after my 22nd birthday and I want to normalise it. I want to break open that box surround dentures. I’m not that person today that I was when I was addicted.”
