A grandma had to resort to prizing her own teeth out when she couldn’t get a dental appointment.
Jacqueline Shepherd was told she faced a five-month wait to see a professional when she developed agonising toothache.
The 56-year-old said she was left with no other option because the pain was ‘sheer hell’.
Her problem started in February and kept getting worse, quickly becoming ‘horrendous’.
The mother-of-two, who lives alone and uses a wheelchair, revealed it took ‘two days to finally get it out’ by twisting it.
She said her teeth had been ‘getting looser and looser’ because of a vitamin D deficiency caused by a medication she uses but struggled to get help because of huge backlogs caused by the pandemic.
Ms Shepherd said: ‘It was a nightmare. I even went to the walk-in centre and was told there was nothing they could do – I burst into tears.
‘It took me five months to finally get into a dentist.’
Ms Shepherd said it was only an act of goodwill by a dentist manager that she got an appointment, adding: ‘If it wasn’t for one nice person I’d still be waiting now. It’s absolutely horrendous.’
She continued: ‘I was crying and in so much pain. I had six teeth taken out once I finally got an appointment in July.
‘It’s absolutely disgusting. It was the worst experience of my life, toothache is one of the worst things you can have.
‘I couldn’t eat anything because the pain was on both sides of my mouth.
‘The pain was that bad that even talking was causing a problem. I feel sorry for anyone who might be in the same position. It was five months of sheer hell.’
A spokesperson for NHS Midlands said: ‘We are really sorry to hear of this very unfortunate case and are taking initiatives to increase the number of dental care sessions for people across the Midlands.’
MORE : ‘I pulled out five of my teeth’: The rise of DIY dentistry
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