A West End star says looking at herself in the mirror is “like a nightmare” after a bike crash in north London left her with life-changing facial injuries and several missing front teeth.
Angeline Bell, who currently stars in hit Matilda the Musical, was landed with a staggering £12,000 bill for dental work after coming off her electric Brompton bike as she cycled home from through Finchley on April 17.
She suffered horrific facial injuries including a broken upper jaw and a small brain haemorrhage, while three of her front teeth were knocked out at the root and several others were fractured.
The mum-of-one, from Cricklewood, was knocked unconscious and has no recollection of the crash, so details of what happened are unknown.
“AlI I remember is the early part of my evening, and then waking up in hospital strapped to a trauma board,” she wrote on a Gofundme page.
“As always I was wearing my leopard print helmet which, along with my Apple Watch, saved my life.”
In what she described as a “miracle”, her Apple watch detected she had fallen and called for an ambulance, while sending an SOS message to both her son and partner.
She spent three days in hospital and recovered from her brain haemorrhage, but was “heartbroken” to find the NHS offered no permanent replacement for her missing teeth except dentures.
“I can’t begin to tell you how devastating it is to have to look at myself every day in the mirror with no front teeth,” she said.
“It feels like a nightmare that I just can’t wake up from, but at the same time I still must try and be positive that things aren’t worse.”
After paying out £250 for NHS dentures, she found they were ill-fitting and left her unable to sing or even speak.
She eventually forked out £900 for private dentures, which have allowed her to resturn to performing after 11 weeks off, but her missing teeth continue to affect her self-esteem and affect her work.
“At the end of the day you go home and you take your dentures out, and you’ve got no teeth and your lips are all sunken in,” she told the Standard.
“Particularly as a performer, that’s one of the things I sell myself on - how I look. It really has had a massive impact on my mental health.
“The situation is that the NHS don’t really provide suitable help to fix teeth, despite this being an accident.
“I have explained to doctors and dentists that I cannot work without teeth, and I am heartbroken that there is no help for me to get a permanent solution in this situation.
“I have no savings, have struggled as a single parent, and I have no family inheritance to fall back on,” added Miss Bell, who works as a performing arts teacher alongside performing, to make ends meeet.
Moved by her story, donors have given nearly £14,000 via Gofundme, to cover the cost of dental implants and other reconstructive work.
“There just aren’t enough words to express my complete gratitude,” she said, adding that any excess funds raised will be donated to charities that have helped her during her ordeal.
She now urges other electric bike and scooter users to wear proper helmets.
“If ever I get back on an e-bike I’d be getting a helmet with full facial [protection],” she said.
