“It became so painful that I started pulling them out”: woman removes 12 teeth using pliers

La femme, désespérée, s'est arraché 12 dents à l'aide de pinces. MAXPPP – Patrick Lefevre

Caroline Pursey, 63 ans, originaire de Scunthorpe (Angleterre), s'est arraché les dents à cause d'une douleur insupportable, après avoir été dans l'incapacité d'obtenir un rendez-vous chez un dentiste.
 

This is the act of a desperate person. Caroline Pursey, 63, from Scunthorpe (England), has had 12 teeth knocked out due to #39;unbearable pain, after being unable to get an appointment with a dentist.

“I was told I couldn't be accepted or that there was a waiting list three years", she said. "You can't imagine what it feels like to no longer be able to smile. It ruins my face". she laments to the American media  ITV News.

Caroline Pursey said her former dentist had “gone private” and that she had contacted a list of other dentists in the health sector, without success. "It became so painful that I started pulling them out", she said.

"As soon as I open my mouth, things go wrong, because I can't smile"

Unemployed and surviving on Universal Credit, Ms Pursey said her appearance had even hampered her attempts to find job.

"I had three interviews", she said. "They do these group interviews, and I did really well, but as soon as they do a one-on-one interview, as soon as I open my mouth , it's going badly, because I can't smile."

The Secretary of State for Health, Victoria Atkins, reacted to his case: "Someone who suffers so much must always remember that if he needs it, he can always go to his local accident and emergency department for help, because this shouldn't happen.

The statement came as Ms Atkins announced that dentists would be offered grants of £20,000 to encourage them to open practices in underserved areas of the country, in framework of a "odontology recovery plan".