Superglue. This magic multipurpose adhesive is used to attach, fix and bind all sorts of things but have you heard of it being used to superglue TEETH?
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That's right. Angie Barlow, a 48-year-old professional dog walker has been supergluing her teeth for over 10 years!
A mother was so terrified of going to the dentist she used superglue to stick her broken teeth back into her mouth when they fell out. Angie Barlow, 48, performed dangerous DIY dentistry on herself for more than a decade.
Ms Barlow said: 'When the tooth comes out, I just put a little bit of glue and try and hold it in place to keep it, so I don't have a gap in my teeth. I used glue on the top of the tooth, and then I put it back in place until the glue is set.'
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The beginnings of Angie's tooth problem began with her excessive smoking. However, instead of seeking professional help, her fear of dentists forced her to superglue her teeth as a fix, which of course did nothing except make conditions worse.
Dentists who examined Angie think smoking may be the cause of the damage to her teeth which led her to resort to using household superglue to fix them.
The situation got so bad that Angie Barlow lost 90 per cent of the bone supporting the teeth in her top jaw and the amount of superglue she used meant she had created the equivalent of her own dentures.
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Her fear stemmed from a terrible memory of her late mother's visit to the dentist which led to the discovery of her mother's throat cancer
The mum-of-one [Angela Barlow] said that she was too frightened to get professional help for her teeth after her mum died of throat cancer.
"I've always been scared of the dentist because my mum died at 34 from throat cancer," revealed Barlow. "She had a tooth out, and that's how they found she had cancer.
"That fear has always been in the back of my mind."
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Her DIY hack might have kept her teeth in place but she has always felt insecure about how she looked and couldn't even bear her own son looking at her
She said she became reclusive because of her embarrassment and said: "I just feel so self-conscious that I don't do, you know I don't go anywhere really. Even going in the shop, I feel embarrassed, they'd be like, nudge, nudge, look at her, you know."
"Even in front of my son I'm embarrassed to like sit and have a conversation with him. So I'll just turn my head away while I talk to him. Half the time I talk with my hand over my mouth."
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She finally gathered up her courage to visit the dentist for a much-needed operation. After correcting the damage, Angie regained her confidence and others have noticed it as well.
During the operation 11 of her top teeth were extracted and six titanium screws were inserted into her jaw with 12 new teeth permanently attached.
She is more outgoing after the treatment as she no longer needs to hide her smile, she said. 'It's wonderful isn't it, I feel amazing, and there's no hands over my mouth or embarrassment. People have said they notice a difference in me. My friends, they're just like "oh my God, you're more outgoing".'
Dr Serpil Djemal, consultant and clinical lead at Kings College Hospital, said: "It's probably one of the worst cases that I've seen and certainly one, one of the worse cases of desperation, to superglue a tooth back in the mouth."
But in a new BBC documentary about teeth, viewers see Angie spend her life-savings to have her smile rebuilt.
Consumption of illicit drugs and the abusive intake of acidic carbonated beverages (particularly soda) often are associated with similar types of damage to the human dentition, the most common of which is dental erosion.
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Did you know there is a severe shortage of dentists in Malaysia?
There is a severe shortage of dentists in Malaysia, but the Health Ministry and the Education Ministry is looking to solve this problem in the next few years.
Cover image via mirror.co.uk
