The dentist said my teeth were the stinkiest he’d ever seen after I got a botched job in Turkey – it was such a mistake
A MUM claims getting ‘Turkey teeth’ was the ‘worst decision of her life’ as they left ‘rotting’ holes in her head – that her shocked UK dentist said smelled ‘unbearable’.
Sarah Watson, from Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, wanted to fix her teeth after 18 rounds of intense radiotherapy while battling cancer made her teeth ‘crumble’ and left her too embarrassed to smile.
But unable to afford the £27,000 UK price tag quoted to her by a London dentist, she spent £3,500 getting veneers fitted in Marmaris, Turkey in September 2020.
Upon returning to England, the 51-year-old was initially happy with her teeth and said they looked ‘beautiful’ and loved the colour of them.
But three months later, the mum-of-two said her teeth began to move and she was left with gaps the thickness of her thumb nail around the edges of her teeth, which caused food to get stuck in the holes and ‘rot.
At their worst, Sarah said she was left ‘frightened’ to eat as she feared her veneers would fall out and was constantly using mouthwash to gargle and ‘blow’ food out of the gaps in her teeth.
Now, almost three years later, she is paying an estimated £10,000-£15,000 for a private UK dentist to fix her teeth – who discovered they had plugged the holes with cement and left them to ‘rot’ over years.
Sarah, the owner of a cleaning company, said: “I just wanted a nice smile.
“I had to undergo 18 rounds of intensive radiotherapy for my cancer and I was also taking a chemo-based tablet which stopped me producing oestrogen which ruined my hair and teeth.
“My hair and teeth went downhill.
“My hair was so thin you could see my scalp and my teeth just crumbled. They didn’t fall out but they broke and I had loose teeth.
“I was wearing extensions in my hair because it was so thin and at the time, I would have done anything to make myself look and feel better.
FABULOUS FIVER: SPEND £5 AND GET A £25 WELCOME BONUS
“I was so excited for the procedure.
“My teeth were awful by this point and I had gone through such a tough time with the cancer.
“My husband had told me not to go to Turkey to get them done but my cousin had recently just come back from having hers done and they seemed good, so I had no reason to question it.”
Sarah was diagnosed with breast cancer in March 2018 and underwent two surgeries to have her lymph nodes removed from her armpits after the cancer spread.
After being given the all clear, she flew out to Marmaris in Turkey in September 2020 with her sister Bridie Murphy, 49, to undergo her seven-day teeth transformation.
The day after arriving in Turkey, Sarah visited the dental clinic opposite her hotel and was told to hand over the £3,500 that she’d brought with her in cash.
After paying the considerable sum, Sarah claims she was told to sit in the dentist chair and within seconds, injections were being put in her mouth and they started pulling some of her teeth out.
Sarah said: “You are told you have to pay in cash for the procedure and my husband took it out of our savings.
“[In the Turkish hotel] I slept with the money under my pillow overnight because I was panicked that someone would take it in my sleep.
“After paying, within seconds I was in the chair and they were injecting into my mouth and taking my teeth out. I was shaking and crying.”
After the first stage of her transformation, Sarah said she was left with eight teeth on her top row and 10 teeth on her bottom, which were shaved ready for the next step of the procedure.
A temporary bridge was then fitted to her top teeth and she then returned the following day to have the same procedure done on her bottom teeth.
Sarah was then given a three-day break before returning to the dental surgery to have her permanent veneers fitted and flew home that evening.
I had never seen this many people waiting to get their teeth done.”
Sarah Watson
Sarah said: “[After having your procedure done] someone else is already in the chair by this point getting their teeth done.
“They took out my temporary ones and brought in my permanent ones. Within two minutes they were done. They just pushed them into place.
“I had never seen this many people waiting to get their teeth done. Everyone in my hotel was there for the same reason to get their teeth done.”
Straight after having her new teeth fitted, Sarah said she noticed gaps around her front teeth at the top and bottom but claims she was told by the Turkish dentist that this was normal and they would disappear when her gums healed from the procedure.
But following her return to the UK, Sarah said her teeth just got progressively worse.
The mother said she initially got back in contact with the Turkish dental company who originally fitted her veneers and said they offered to fix the issue for another £3,000.
But worried to revisit the clinic and with covid restrictions in place, Sarah didn’t fly back out and instead spent almost two years enduring her sensitive, gappy teeth.
It was only when her teeth got so bad she was left unable to eat that she reached out to a private UK dentist in May 2023 who is now in the process of fixing her smile.
Sarah said when she visited the UK dentist, he had never seen anything like it and was not sure if he’d be able to fix them.
Sarah said: “Towards the end [when my teeth were at their worst] I couldn’t eat meat and I was so frightened to eat anything in case they [my veneers from Turkey] came out.
I would tell them please do not do this and get them done there.”
Sarah Watson
“I couldn’t even eat my dinner.
“I was trying to eat some roast potato and I felt one of my teeth move and it was hanging on the last thread.
“I had no bite which is why they started moving apparently and causing my teeth to rock.
“My dentist is absolutely horrified and shocked about what he found in the holes in my gums.
“When I was laying there [at the dentist], he said ‘look at this’ and he pulled out the holes with cement.
“They had put in the holes where they had taken the teeth out of and filled it with cement.
“He said that this had been rotting in my gums for years.
“I also knew there must have been a smell that followed me because of the food getting stuck in the gaps in my teeth.
“When my dentist took the first set off, he said the smell was unbearable.”
Sarah now warns others not to go to Turkey to have this procedure done.
Sarah said: “I would have never gone if I could reverse time.
“I would tell them please do not do this and get them done there.
“I’m not saying every dentist in Turkey is the same but when you’re getting your teeth done in one week from start to finish there’s a problem.”