A woman pulls out teeth with pliers after 100 dentists ran out of space

A woman had to pull out her own tooth with pliers after she couldn’t get a dentist appointment – despite calling more than 100 clinics. Tobye Spencer, 57, had healthy teeth until a bout of pancreatitis caused her to vomit frequently, causing them to rot and almost all of them fall out.

In a bid to have a painful tooth extracted and a denture fitted, she says she spent hours going around more than 100 private and NHS dental surgeries across the south coast. But unable to get an appointment because all the waiting lists were full, she says, she pulled a tooth herself.

She now has just eight teeth and is desperate to get dentures – but still can’t find anyone to take her on as a patient. She says there are no dentists willing to accept NHS patients because they cannot charge as much as they could privately.

Going private would cost up to £800, she says, which she can’t afford. In addition to his eight real teeth, he has a “bridge” of three false teeth that he had installed while living in Spain in 2005, before the disease began.

Tobye, from Poole, Dorset, said: “It’s not just vanity – my teeth are chattering. “It’s not a nice feeling – it stops me from eating certain things.

“I just want to have teeth, and I don’t think that’s a big ask.”

Tobye began to lose weight and get sick frequently, and was admitted to hospital after a year of symptoms in 2018. Doctors discovered she had severe pancreatitis – where the pancreas becomes inflamed – and started taking medication to treat it.

She was in ICU for a week after fluid collected in her lungs and was treated for an abscess, leaving her bedridden and in hospital between July and November 2018. Poorly Tobye suffered severe malnutrition – going down in 5th place – she had two cardiac arrests and was vomiting frequently, which caused her to lose most of her teeth.

She started looking for a dentist in May 2021 — and spent two years calling more than 100 within 40 miles of her home before giving up. She removed her molar herself using forceps without anesthetic in July 2023.

While she is now better, her confidence is rock bottom because of her teeth. Tobye said: “It’s the 21st century and I’m walking around with no teeth!

“It was awful – I feel like I’m living in the 18th century. I had a very bad illness, which is why my teeth fell out – not because I didn’t take care of them.”

“My therapist tells me I need to get out and see people – it’s like a knock-on effect. I have called over 100 dentists to try and get an appointment, in practices in Dorset and even Southampton, but no one will take me. .”

Tobye is regularly given physiotherapy to try to regain her strength and takes strong medication for her condition – but says it is bizarre that teeth are excluded from her treatment. I don’t understand why your teeth aren’t treated the same as the rest of your body,” she said.

Tobye wrote to the health ombudsman and even the local MP, but was told she could only complain about a particular practice. “How can I complain about one – I couldn’t get an appointment over 100!” she said.

“I just want to have new teeth and be able to feel confident again. It was a terrible time.”