A MUM says her face collapsed and she was left in the “worst pain of her life”; after a botched dental procedure in Turkey went horribly wrong.
Leanne Abeyance, 40, from Telford, , flew out for dental implants to replace her 13-year-old — but claims the trip left her disfigured and in constant agony.
The mum-of-two said she was advised by a dentist to undergo a sinus lift, bone grafts and have 15 implants fitted — eight on the top and seven on the bottom.
DJ Leanne had all her teeth pulled, the implants inserted and returned to the UK, with a plan to go back months later for permanent crowns.
But just weeks after the screws were fitted, Leanne said she began suffering with severe headaches, sinus infections, and noticed her face was starting to change shape.
“I’m in the worst pain of my life and I’m in and out of A&E,”; said Leanne.
“I can’t even touch my face. It feels like broken glass being smashed in my face and smeared around. I’ve been in a flood of tears.”;
“My face has collapsed. I’ll never have a nice smile.
“At the minute, I don’t have any teeth in, just screws sticking out. The pain is worse than childbirth.”;
She initially chose to go abroad because the same work in the UK would have cost £40,000 — whereas the Turkish clinic quoted £8,000.
Leanne paid £3,000 upfront and was due to pay the rest after the final fitting.
“When the first lot of injections went in and they started to remove my , I could feel everything,”; she said.
“I had about 25 injections in six hours.
“The sinus lift felt like they were hammering something up my nose.
“It was like a horror movie that I was fully awake for.
“I got picked up and taken back to a nice hotel where fellow customers were there having the same done.
“I was on the phone to my friends and family crying my eyes out because I was in so much pain and there on my own.
You can’t eat because your mouth is so swollen and there are screws sticking out so I was starving.”;
Leanne left the surgery in May last year happy with her temporary smile, but the pain began before she even got on the flight home.
“In the airport, my face started to hurt so much I was literally buying cups of ice and putting them on my face,”; she said.
“My face was black and blue like I’d been in a huge fight.
“In the UK, I thought it was all worth it because it was the start of a perfect smile and feeling pretty.
Four months later, I’m starting to get bad headaches, toothache where there are no teeth, and problems which I’d never had before.”;
Despite multiple courses of antibiotics and even an overnight hospital stay on an IV drip, the pain wouldn’t go away.
A scan at Droitwich Dental Studio in March revealed that two implants had pierced her nasal cavity.
“One implant pierced through my sinuses and the other is in my nose,”; she said.
Leanne is now fundraising for private corrective surgery, which she’s been told could cost up to £45,000.
Her dentist says she may need to have all of the implants removed and redone.
“The pain I’m in is excruciating,”; she said. “It’s not as easy as walk in, walk out to the perfect smile like celebrities say.
“There’s no such thing as the perfect white smile. I’m not asking for sympathy or anything for free.
Now it’s a waiting game.
My dentist in Droitwich has been great and I’ll be using them again in the future.
“I’m ready to have them all cut out and have horrible dentures, but hopefully it will stop the pain I’m in. I can’t work, my face swells up, I get bad headaches, nose bleeds, mood swings and my mental health through the roof.
“I’ve lost two stone in weight and I feel like I’m failing as a mother to my two beautiful daughters.
“I don’t want to be seen in public.
“My mental health is severely suffering, I can’t DJ, I can’t be my happy, lively self and can’t even do a caravan holiday with the kids.
“It’s been the worst year of my life. I just want it to be over.”;
