Mum has lost 13 teeth ‘after waiting seven years to see a dentist’

A woman has been left looking ‘like a drug addict’ and was almost driven to suicide when she lost 13 teeth.

Mandy Sharp was proud of her pearly whites until she was struck off her dentist’s patient list when she cancelled an appointment to undergo emergency surgery for a cancerous tumour in 2016.

The 59-year-old said she used to get compliments from friends about her white knashers until she lost 12 at the top and one from the bottom.

Mandy from Leeds, West Yorkshire, has not had a dentist appointment in seven years and tried hundreds of dentists but none are accepting NHS patients.

‘I got to the point where I wanted to throw myself out of a window,’ she said.

‘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 until her untimely exit in 2016.

She ‘begged and begged’ dental practices to accept her and even tried ones hundreds of miles away in Hull.

‘It was just that one appointment I missedm,’ she said. ‘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.”‘

During her wait for a dentist Mandy noticed black dots on her teeth when they started to rot.

Before she knew it during Christmas 2021 nine of her top teeth cleanly ‘snapped off’.

Three more top teeth and one in her lower gum then came out in August last year.

During an emotional appeal to local council leaders last November, Mandy said ‘people look down’ on her because of her missing teeth.

Leaving the council meeting dejected thoughts turned to taking her own life a few 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 is still no closer to getting dental treatment after trying to get a referral through her GP for dental care three times but failing.

The branch of Whitecross Dental Care, in Bramley, Leeds, has since closed down and moved locations after it was taken over by (My)dentist.

A (My)dentist spokesperson 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.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.