Ex-miner, 62, on diet of soup and painkillers as he can't afford £5,400 dentist bill

Transcript

00:00 Hello, I'm David Creamer, 62, nearly 63 year old.

00:12 Unfortunately I had a slight accident in Blackpool last June when I was with my girlfriend simply

00:19 just by eating a sandwich and what happened, the entire top crown of my mouth virtually,

00:27 teeth, came out and I've been trying to get some kind of dental treatment ever since.

00:35 I've seen an emergency dentist in Rotherham who said that they're really that bad, most

00:43 of them are going to have to come out, by way of taking the roots out etc, we're leaving

00:48 just a few, but they were taking no NHS patients whatsoever, in fact anywhere in Rotherham

00:59 could I get NHS.

01:01 I even tried the Charles Clippard Dental Hospital which is well known for helping people that's

01:07 not got a dentist and they said well you need a referral, my answer to that was well I can't

01:14 get a dentist so I can't get a referral, so I paid up front and saw another private dentist

01:20 for 40 quid who did the full x-ray and again explained that there's a lot of work to do

01:27 and he's prepared the work in advance now but it's 5,500 quid, so at the moment I'm

01:36 on benefits, ESA and the lower rate of PIP and there's nowhere on earth I can afford

01:42 it so basically I look like sitting it out while some magic happens, maybe win the lottery

01:52 and get these teeth sorted out.

01:56 I'm on painkillers every day prescribed by my doctor, three lots of different painkillers

02:06 and the pain can be very, very bad. I'm having to eat soft drinks all the time, can't eat

02:12 a proper meal and I haven't been able to now for nearly seven or eight months.

02:28 I'm an ex coal miner from Silverwood Callery Rotherham, was there virtually till it shut

02:32 in 1994 and all I'm really asking if there's a dentist out there who's prepared to do a

02:38 little bit of natural health dentist treatment to help me out I would be grateful for it

02:45 because I've never known dentistry sink so far down than it has now. Nobody can seem

02:52 to get a dentist, people are pulling their own teeth out with pliers and we're supposed

02:57 to have a caring government that's supposed to be about levelling up, well maybe somebody

03:03 from the government might come and level up and level out my teeth. Thank you very much.

03:07 [BLANK_AUDIO]