A Leeds mum has lost 13 of her teeth after waiting seven years for a dentist appointment.
59-year-old Mandy Sharp used to be proud to flash her pearly whites and would get compliments from friends, but sadly she lost her perfect smile after her dentist appointment was cancelled while she was in intensive care.
She says she was struck off her dentist’s patient list when she cancelled an appointment to undergo emergency surgery for a cancerous tumour in 2016. Mandy took antidepressants when she became suicidal after losing 12 top gnashes and one bottom - leaving her looking "like a drug addict".
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Mandy has now tried hundreds of dentists as far away as Hull, but has been told none are accepting NHS patients. She said: "I got to the point where I wanted to throw myself out of a window. I’ve lost 13 teeth, and now I’m down to one at the front, and the rest have all snapped off. And the bottom ones have started to go.
"Everyone used to comment on them, saying ‘Why are your teeth so white? Why are your teeth so bright?’ They really stood out. Now it’s embarrassing. I feel like a drug addict. People look down on you when you have only got one top tooth. And it’s changed the shape of my face as well."
Mandy had been on the books of Whitecross Dental Care, in Bramley, Leeds, for six months in 2016 when she was diagnosed with a cancerous tumour and was rushed to hospital. Doctors found the 11cm (4.5ins) by 8cm (3ins) growth close to her coccyx and she spent three weeks in an ICU where she underwent emergency surgery.
She had an appointment booked with her dentist for some fillings and asked her mum to cancel it at least a week in advance when she became very ill. But after she came out of the hospital, she claimed she was struck off their patient list as staff said she’d “missed” an appointment - and could not be reinstated.
And though she "begged and begged" to be re-admitted, she was left to search for another practitioner accepting NHS patients hundreds of miles from her home. She added: "It was just that one appointment I missed. It was absolutely insane. I phoned them up, emailed them and I begged them and begged them, ‘Please, I’ve been in hospital. I need my teeth sorted.’ I had two fillings to go at that point.
"They said: ‘No sorry, we’ve got to be strict as there are so many people on our list waiting. And we’ve made a decision and can’t go back on it.’" Mandy was forced to hunt for new dental clinics that would take NHS patients, and she spent years calling and emailing surgeries without finding any spaces.
During this time, she noticed black marks forming on her teeth as they began to rot, and shockingly over Christmas in 2021, nine of her top teeth cleanly "snapped off". These were later joined by three more top teeth and one in her lower gum, which came out by August last year.
She said: "I just bit a crisp, and thought ‘What’s that? My tooth’s come out.’ After the second one, I thought, 'What’s going on?’. I tried phoning the dentist round here, saying it’s desperate. I did get an appointment for 2023, but I thought I’m going to get a dentist before that, I don’t need that.
"But I really, really wish I had booked it now. They were all wanting £80, but I couldn’t afford that as I’m on benefits." Mandy made an emotional appeal to civic leaders at a council meeting in November last year about her case, saying “people look down" on her due to her missing teeth. But she was left feeling so dejected following the local gathering that her thoughts turned to the idea of taking her own life just hours later.
She said: "When I came out of that meeting in November, I got in the taxi, and I sat in the taxi and cried all the way home. I phoned my GP straight away when I started feeling like that. He put me on anti-depressants." Mandy said she has tried to get a referral through her GP for dental care three times but after that failed, she is sadly still no closer to getting the treatment she needs.
The branch of Whitecross Dental Care, in Bramley, has since closed down and moved locations after it was taken over by a larger group, (My)dentist. A spokesperson from (My)dentist, said: "We’re disappointed to hear that Ms [Sharp] had this experience at the practice when it was under different management.
"Our practice teams work hard to treat as many people within the community as possible but sadly, we understand that many patients like Ms Rhodes are struggling to access NHS dental care. There is currently an acute shortage of dentists across the UK and, since the pandemic, this has become even more severe. That’s why we’re doing everything we can to recruit as many new clinicians as possible to ensure that patients can get access to the affordable care they need."
Mandy has since started a group on Facebook where she hopes those with similar experiences will contribute their stories. Click here to see the page.
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