Woman unable to get appointment at dentist has a go herself... with a pair of PLIERS!

Byline: JACK EVANS

A MIDLAND woman tried to pull her own tooth out with a pair of pliers after she was unable to get a dentist appointment amid the coronavirus lockdown.

Fay Rayward, 41, decided to take action after the pain it was causing became unbearable.

She said she had tried to get a dentist appointment and even called 111, but was told she wouldn't be seen unless she was struggling to breathe.

So Fay resorted to painful DIY dentistry after a filling came out exposing the nerve in her lower molar which was split in half.

Fay, of Telford, Shropshire, posted a stomach-churning video of herself trying to yank the tooth out to illustrate the dentistry crisis.

She said: "The pain for me was worse than childbirth. I have never experienced pain like it."

Fay woke up in agony after a filling came out on May 5 revealing her tooth had split in two.

She rang her local dental surgery which had suspended routine services following the lockdown on March 25 who referred her to another practice.

Fay, who works with children with special needs, was offered antibiotics which she took but the pain continued to get worse. The day after she tried to remove the tooth herself she finally got an emergency appointment at an Urgent Dental Care hub (UDC).

She had the tooth removed at Smile Works Dental in Malinslee, Shropshire, on May 13 and said: "After they extracted my tooth the relief was immediate."

David Cottam, chair of Practitioners' Committee of the British Dental Association, said the system under lockdown was "working better than it was" but treatment at hubs was "very, very limited" and meant some teeth were taken out rather than saved.

CAPTION(S):

Fay Rayward attempting to remove a tooth with a pair of pliers