He has been living with tooth loss for decades, but now the Pogues front man Shane MacGowan has finally had restorative dental work done to replace his lost teeth; the singer destroyed his front teeth with drugs and alcohol over the years and had to get dental implants to replace them.
Shane, who celebrates his 58th birthday on Christmas day, has been able to eat an apple for the first time in three decades after undergoing six operations to repair the damage over the course of six months. Despite living without his teeth for many years, the singer did not think about doing anything drastic about the condition until his girlfriend of thirty years, Victoria Mary Clarke, suggested dental implants as a solution.
Rather than having a set of entirely white teeth, the singer has a single gold tooth over one incisor; as part of an overall design that has apparently been based on the teeth of actor Michael Fassbender. In order to get through the procedure, Shane hired a pranic healer, who provided a form of alternative medicine that was ‘better than any drug’ the singer has ever taken.
Shane’s journey to rebuild his broken smile will be chronicled in a new documentary entitled; Shane MacGowan; A Wreck Reborn, which airs on Sky Arts this week.