Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Entertainment
Lisa McLoughlin

Zoe Ball feared she'd swallowed her tooth after freak accident ahead of Glastonbury

Zoe Ball revealed she feared she had swallowed a tooth after she was forced to miss her radio show on Wednesday following a dental emergency.

On Wednesday, the 53-year-old took to Instagram to share a picture of toothless TV scarecrow Worzel Gummidge and explained how she required urgent treatment to fix her missing gnasher.

Alongside the image, she joked: “About last night...”

After her urgent dental visit, she posted another picture of Garth Algar from Wayne's World with a big smile, thanking her dental clinic for their “emergency rescue”.

Now recalling the chaotic incident on Thursday’s The Zoe Ball Breakfast show, the presenter explained: “So I'm on a FaceTime to my brother Nick... We're discussing the ins and outs of Glastonbury and who's there and where are the kids? And I'm thinking, ‘I could do several things’ when I didn't realise [my brother] was FaceTiming me to start with.

“I picked my phone up. I was naked about to get in the shower - not what your brother wants to see. Anyways, I put my dressing gown on and we have a chat.

“I start flossing my teeth. So this front tooth, I knocked that out when I was very, very young - and then this one [the one next to it] I also knocked out so I'm talking to Nick and I've got the floss and it caught on the back of my tooth, it pings across the room and then the other one.

Ball informed her followers she suffered a dental emergency (Instagram/Zoe Ball)

“And I’m in my dressing gown that's not tied, half my boobs hanging out, going, ‘I’ve got to go!’. I'm scraping around, I've not got my glasses on, I can't find the tooth, ‘where's the other one gone?’ I thought I was going to swallow it.”

Ball then revealed that her fear soon turned to panic when she called a friend looking for an urgent dental appointment and realised she was going to have to call in sick to her BBC Radio 2 show.

She continued: “So I’m ringing my mate, who is a dentist, and he's like, ‘I've got to go to the kids sports day, I could do them Friday.’ But there's like the huge gap, can you imagine the gap there? I look like the crazy woman in the [Big Lebowski]. It was terrifying.

“I have to call Helen the boss, ‘Helen. I'm really sorry.’ It just sounds like such a line doesn't it? But anyway, luckily I'm scrambling around the ground, I find my teeth.”

“Thank you so much to Maddie who glued me back together. I can't eat, I'm really scared of eating because, can you imagine if it had happened in Glastonbury?”

Thanking Gabby Roslin for filling in last minute, Ball admitted that she was left “embarrassed” and initially asked her agent not to tell her boss she was calling in sick because of her teeth, quipping, “tell her it's a national emergency.”

The broadcaster thanked her local dentist for their help (Credit: Instagram/Zoe Ball)

Ball's dental emergency comes just weeks after she confirmed her beloved mum Julie Peckham had died 12 weeks after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

In March, she disclosed that the cancer had progressed significantly, and the family was prioritising creating lasting memories together.

The presenter posted a photo of her mother on Instagram from when she was young with the caption: “Sleep tight dear Mama.

“Thank you for teaching us how to love unconditionally, to always show courage and empathy, and how, even in the darkest of days, laughter is the greatest of gifts.

“We are bereft without you but will hold so tight to each other. 

“Your grace and your smile that lit up every room you were in, will light the stars to guide us.”

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.