When Stephanie was only six she had an accident while riding her bike, flying over the handle bars and hitting her front teeth on the road. A few years later her teeth started turning black. Fortunately, at that time, she was able to access good dental care: root canals were performed on the dying teeth, which were also bleached back to white.

At 18 Stephanie became pregnant and this had a significant impact on her health. After having the baby, she suffered severe postnatal depression and felt completely drained. She recalled how one day to her horror, her two front teeth simply fell out.

I went about six months without my front teeth just because I didn’t know what to do or where to go. I knew my teeth were all stuffed, though I had to chew on one side because this side would hurt and then this side would start hurtin’. It was just a big mess in there.

Stephanie’s other health issues meant that her missing teeth were not a priority. Already feeling bad about herself due to the postnatal depression, having no front teeth had an impact on how she interacted with others. When meeting new people, she covered her mouth with her hand:

I don’t really want to have anyone see because it’s just horrible.

Stephanie separated from her partner, who took custody of their son, so she was required by Centrelink to look for work. Commencing the Personal Support Programme with Brotherhood of St Laurence, she was referred to the Teeth First program by her caseworker. Learning that the dentist could only save five of her teeth, she replied: 

Well, you may as well just take them all out, there’s no use in saving any.

Having resolved to ‘get it over and done with’ even her dentist was surprised by her level of pain tolerance. Normally his patients needed two weeks between extractions to recover. Stephanie however, ‘jumped straight into it’ to have eight teeth removed each week across four weeks.

After several months waiting while her gums healed, and a couple of dental assessments, Stephanie learned she required surgery to fix a protruding jaw bone before plates could be fitted and dentures made. After her first surgery, additional consultations with a specialist were required to determine whether further surgery would be required. Stephanie’s resolve was important. She recalls how she travelled around the Peninsula visiting different dentists and specialists on almost a weekly basis for some months.

From the time she lost her front teeth, Stephanie had difficulty eating. Explaining that chewing helped the brain feel satisfied, she said she often feels hungry, having lived for months on a diet of sloppy food such as oats and mashed potato. Quite aside from the nutritional impact of having no teeth, there is a social impact of being unable to share food with friends.

It took around a year to get her dentures and they have been difficult to get used to. Stephanie says she wears them about half the time because they make her gag and she cannot yet eat with them. She does wear them to go out and says they have improved her spirits and self-image, her friends commenting how good they look. And, while still busy caring for her three-year-old son, she is planning—with help from her job services provider—to undertake some further study.

This case study has been taken from Bond (2010) ‘Public Dental Care and the teeth First Trial: A history of decay’, Brotherhood of St Laurence.