Colin was convinced no woman would want him when he had 12 teeth
A man who was left with just 12 teeth that ‘weren’t worth saving’ was living in constant pain, unable to eat properly and was convinced so woman would ever want him again. Divorced dad Colin Blanchard, 54, a courier from London, spent years living with severe gum disease that gradually loosened his teeth.
Eating became painful, dentures no longer fitted properly, and the embarrassment eventually became worse than the physical discomfort. Colin said: “I’d look in the mirror and think, if I met someone with teeth like mine, would I be attracted to them? Probably not. That’s how little confidence I had.”
Although Colin’s dental problems had been getting worse for years, he says the emotional impact truly hit after his divorce. Moving away meant rebuilding his social life from scratch and meeting new people, but instead of looking forward to it, he became consumed by how his teeth looked.
“I covered my mouth whenever I laughed. If I was talking to someone I didn’t know, I’d automatically put my hand over my face. I stopped taking photographs because I hated seeing my smile.”
He says that during that period, he only smiled in photos taken with his children. Living with gum disease also meant constant pain.
His teeth became so loose that even biting into simple foods was impossible. He avoided apples altogether, pushed food to the back of his mouth to chew and suffered repeated abscesses as food became trapped between his teeth and gums.
“I was nervous every time I ate because I knew moving one tooth could leave me in agony for days.”
Dentures also offered little relief. As his remaining teeth shifted, they no longer fitted properly and eventually became so painful that he stopped wearing them.
When he explored care in the UK, he was quoted around £60,000 for full-mouth treatment. At that point, Colin felt he had no choice but to live with the problem.
“I just thought that was it. I couldn’t afford it, so I carried on trying to manage.”
The moment that finally changed everything came during a day out with friends. Someone he hadn’t seen for years looked at him and said: “Wow, Colin, look at the state of your teeth. It completely knocked me. My teeth had got worse gradually, so I hadn’t really noticed just how bad they’d become until someone else pointed it out.”
Around the same time, one of his front teeth had started to protrude so far forward that it would dry out when he was outside. He says this made it look dirty no matter how much he cleaned it.
Colin said: “I became obsessed with checking it. I didn’t want people thinking I didn’t look after myself.”
After speaking to two friends who had undergone dental treatment arranged through Longevita, Colin contacted them to explore his options. Following a 3D scan, he learned his teeth were beyond saving due to advanced bone loss from gum disease. A staged plan was subsequently developed across two trips to Turkey, combining full extractions, bone grafting, implants, and later porcelain crowns.
Colin travelled to Istanbul alone for the first stage of his treatment, having never visited Turkey before. He was advised not to wear dentures between the two stages of treatment to allow the bone grafts and implants to heal.
As a result, he spent four months without teeth before returning for his crowns. “I’d already been struggling to eat properly,” he says. “Four months without teeth wasn’t the hardest part.”
With his treatment now complete, he smiles without thinking, no longer avoids photographs and doesn’t instinctively cover his mouth while talking.
“It’s the little things people don’t think about. I love walking down the street smiling now. I actually enjoy people looking at me because I’m not trying to hide anymore.”
For someone who spent years surviving on softer foods, one of his first moments after completing treatment was surprisingly simple. “I already knew exactly what I wanted to eat. I went straight to a restaurant because I just wanted to enjoy a proper meal again.
When asked about his dating life, he says it’s still early days. “I haven’t really had the chance to get back into dating yet,” he says. “I’m getting used to everything again,” he adds.
Having lived with gum disease for years, Colin says the experience completely changed how seriously he now takes his oral health. “I never skip cleaning my crowns. I water floss several times a day because I never want to go back to how life was before.”
He also hopes other men don’t make the same mistake he did by ignoring problems for too long. “Men definitely put things off. You always think you’ve got more time, but you don’t realise how important it is until there’s a real problem.”
For Colin, though, the hardest part was never the pain. “It wasn’t really about the teeth. It was feeling like I had to hide myself all the time. Now I wake up, smile in the mirror and actually like the person looking back.”
