A Gulf war veteran has resorted to carrying out his own dental work after he couldn’t find an NHS dentist that was taking on new patients. Ian Boynton, 42, of Beverley, Yorkshire, had not had his teeth examined since he was in the army over ten years ago. He claimed he has tried to get in at around thirty different surgeries in the past eight years but was unsuccessful and when his teeth started to hurt in 2006 he had no choice but to try out some DIY dental treatment
Ian first started to experience pain in his front tooth and resorted to pulling the troublesome tooth out with pliers because it was hurting so much; he said ‘Amazingly, it did not hurt as much as you might think. I think I’d been prising it that much in the meantime that I’d been killing the nerve.’
Altogether, Ian has pulled out thirteen of his own teeth in the last two years alone and now only has two left on the top jaw. The former army medic served in Iraq in 2003 but found himself on benefits and unable to afford private dental care after leaving the service due to injury. He said ‘It’s a horrible situation to be in when you can’t afford to go to the dentist when my teeth were so bad. I desperately needed a dentist because, although I’m no longer in pain, I need to have false teeth as I’m finding it difficult to eat.’