A trucker now looks ten years younger after having £7,000 Turkey teeth.
Jeff Chilton started losing his gnashers 16 years ago and refused to smile.
The 51-year-old had 10 of his teeth removed and was only able to eat soft food such as omelettes, pasta, cereal and cake.
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When Jeff’s daughter Odessa, now eight, was born, he decided to start having dental treatment to set a good example.
The truck driver had three fillings and a root canal over the space of four years, but the treatment was put on hold when the Covid pandemic hit.
Last June, dad-of-one Jeff hopped on a £70 return flight to Turkey to have all of his teeth removed.
He was sent home for six months so that his gums could heal.
He flew back on a £130 flight last month and splashed out £7,000 for a three-hour procedure to insert implants.
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Jeff says he can’t stop grinning and every time he walks past a mirror, he has to do a double take.
He’s now clean shaven and has had his hair trimmed too.
“It’s taken ten years off me,” Jeff, of Swindon, Wiltshire, told What’s the Jam.
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“I was amazed when I saw them. I look so much younger.
“They felt alien at first, but I’ve had them for over a month and they feel like my teeth.
“I’m not a vain person at all and I don’t spend all my time looking in the mirror but since I’ve had them done, every time I walk past a mirror I smile and look at my teeth.
“It’s been life changing.
“My friends and family can’t believe how good they look.”
He joked: “Odessa said they’re ‘too white’ the first time she saw them.”
Jeff’s teeth started to deteriorate when he was 35 and he stopped taking care of them.
He says he wasn’t registered at a dentist but would use an emergency one if it was needed.
Jeff said: “Life happened and my teeth went s*it. I stopped taking care of them.
“I had a lot of dental issues, one tooth broke off and I had an abscess.
“When my daughter was born, I wanted to get my teeth sorted for her and show her that healthy teeth are a healthy life.
“I was going to an English dentist for four years to get them tidied up and have fillings and root canals, but Covid hit and that was it.
“I heard about people getting their teeth done in Turkey and I always thought that if my teeth did go beyond and I could afford it I would go.”
Speaking of his past struggles, he added: “The hardest part was eating. I couldn’t eat crisps because the sharp bit would stab me in the gum.
“I ate cakes, a lot of omelettes and pasta.
“Anything soft that I could squash with the roof of my mouth and tongue.
“When I was sent home from Turkey with no teeth so my gums could heal, I didn’t really go out much.
“I was living on anything I could gum down.”
Since the treatment, Jeff has treated himself to steak for the first time in 20 years.
Jeff added: “It’s not really about looking good but I wanted to be able to eat what I want.
“I can eat anything now.
“I haven’t had a steak for 20 years and I’ve recently had a fillet steak, cooked blue.
“I walk around with a big cheesy grin on my face.”
