FOR Helen Crighton, the trip to Turkey was a chance to get the teeth she’d always dreamed of as well as a sun-soaked holiday.
But the 55-year-old HGV driver from was left so disfigured after the £8,000 procedure that she was completely unrecognisable and covered in horror bruises.
Helen had travelled to to get the gap in her gnashers fixed and to improve her crumbling smile after giving birth to two children and suffering from .
She’s certainly not alone. An incredible 1.2million people travel to Turkey for cosmetic surgery every year, with 150,000 of them being Brits arriving for dental procedures.
But it became clear that things had gone wrong when her face had swollen so much she could no longer see.
Horror pictures showed Helen’s face covered in dark bruises and twice the size, but the after reaching out to the clinic they told her it was “completely normal”;;.
“I couldn’t believe what I saw,”;; she says.
“My entire face was enormous, from my inflated cheeks to my bulbous neck.
“My lips were so huge I could barely move them and my eyes so swollen I could hardly see.
“Every angle I snapped looked worse and worse.
“Panic flooded through me as one thought kept pounding through my aching head. ‘Oh my god Helen, what on earth have you done?’”;;
The mum-of-two and gran-of-five had been desperate to ‘save her smile’ after a lifetime of teeth troubles.
“As a child I had a gap in my two front teeth which I always hated,”;; she admits.
“Even in my primary school photos I’d only smile with my mouth closed.”;;
Crumbling smile
Then, when she was pregnant with daughter Amy, now 33, Helen’s teeth got worse.
She explains: “Due to a really bad calcium deficiency they began to crumble, and they only got worse after Amy was born.
“I was at the twice a month for a year.
“Life as a truck driver certainly didn’t help, as it made a proper dental routine hard and the food on the road wasn’t the best. I ended up with irreversible .
“It was awful. I’d try to eat soft food like mashed potato but even then, it was painful.”;;
One by one Helen’s teeth began to fall out, and even the ones she had, she couldn’t afford to keep.
“I haven’t had an for years, as they’re so hard to find,”;; she says.
“In 2016 I was in such pain I went to an emergency private dentist, who said the only way to save that particular tooth was a root canal.
“I just couldn’t afford the £250 it would cost, so I had to have it removed. I was in floods of tears.”;;
Then, in 2024, Helen had had enough.
“All my back molars had gone but when the ones closer to the front began to wobble, I thought ‘I need to get this sorted before I lose them all’,”;; she says.
“I knew someone who’d had a full set of implants done and it looked amazing, but was about £30,000 – an impossible amount for me to find.”;;
Turkey alternative
That’s when Helen decided it was time to get herself some
It wasn’t the first time Helen had been to Turkey to make herself look better. In March 2024 she travelled to the country for a that saw her lose over nine stone.
So she didn’t hesitate to turn to Turkey – this time hoping to transform her teeth.
“I picked a different clinic this time, as I fancied going to Antalya,”;; she says.
“The reviews I read were all great and I was so excited to get on the plane.”;;
Seeing the selfies on my phone I was speechless with shock
Helen Crighton
Helen knew the process would mean two different trips.
“The first time I’d have all my remaining teeth removed,”;; she explains.
“I’d then return months later to have all the new teeth put in.
“Including the flight, transfers and hotel it would cost £8,400.“
At first everything went as Helen expected.
A private car was there to meet her at the airport and whisk her to the luxurious hotel. Then it was on to the clinic.
She says: “After all my x-rays they told me I’d need a bone graft and a double sinus lift.
“I’d also need a titanium bar fitted, where the teeth would eventually be attached.
“I’ve always been terrified of the dentist, so I decided to go for a general anaesthetic rather than being awake with a local anaesthetic for the three-hour procedure.”;;
Horrendous pain
Helen doesn’t remember waking up or getting back to the hotel.
“But I do remember having a terrible night,”;; she recalls.
“Despite the pain relief it was tough going, and the next day I was still pretty groggy.
“It felt so weird not to have any teeth in my mouth, and I knew that my face was a bit swollen, but I just tried to rest as much as I could.”;;
Then, two days after the procedure, Helen reached for her camera and saw how she looked.
“Seeing the selfies on my phone I was speechless with shock,”;; Helen says.
“I looked horrific, like I’d been in a terrible car accident or been beaten up by someone.
“My mouth felt so weird with these two swollen lips, and I was struggling to see properly because of my huge eyelids. I just couldn’t believe that this strange, inflated face was mine.
“My brain was racing. Was I having an allergic reaction to something?”;;
‘Perfectly normal’
But when Helen sent photos to the clinic, they told her that her reaction was ‘perfectly normal’.
“I felt my anger rise,”;; she recalls.
“All they would say was how normal this was, and that the black eyes were due to the sinus lift.
“I couldn’t believe it – I looked like a baboon’s bottom.”;;
That’s when Helen posted the pictures on Facebook and Instagram.
Helen says: “I wanted to see what other people thought, and the comments came thick and fast. ‘Are you okay?’ ‘You’re crazy’ and ‘Did they smash your teeth out with a sledgehammer?’
“I’d made friends with Michelle, another patient at the hotel who had the same procedure 24 hours after me. She looked a little swollen, but otherwise normal.
“When she saw me, she froze in shock and said, ‘Oh my god!’ In that moment I really regretted my decision.”;;
When I finally have the smile that I’ve always dreamed of, it will all be worth it
Helen Crighton
Then Helen took a very deep breath.
She says: “I realised that I needed to stay calm. That what was done was done, and that this was just a means to an end.
“‘It will all be fine,’ I told myself firmly.
“If I hadn’t accidentally booked six nights I’d be flying home that day.
“The thought of sitting on a plane looking the way I did made me smile.”;;
Helen would need that sense of humour. Because when she woke up the next day the swelling may have gone but the bruising was worse.
She says: “I had two black eyes and skin that went from bright yellow to deep purple all down my face and neck.
“But I tried to stay positive. At least my face had returned to a more normal size.
“I decided to brave a trip outdoors with Michelle, but I put on a face mask. Along with my sunglasses that hid the worst of it. I didn’t want to scare anyone.”;;
The following day, Helen returned to the clinic where she was given a set of temporary teeth, similar to dentures, that she could wear while waiting for permanent implants later this year.
“Even though they’d seen the pictures I’d sent they were clearly shocked,”;; Helen says.
“They said it was the worst bruising they’d seen in a very long time.”;;
Still toothless
Finally back home in the UK and with the bruises fading, Helen has had to get used to life without teeth.
“I was wrapping a gift for the grandkids and put the Sellotape in my mouth to tear off the end.
“Then I realised I had no teeth to do it! I had to laugh.”;;
Until she returns to Turkey for the implants in October, which will involve six days of treatment, Helen also has to stick to soft foods.
As for the future, Helen hasn’t been put off and already has more Turkey treatments planned.
“I’d love to have a mummy makeover and a facelift,”;; she adds.
“I refuse to let what’s happened put me off. And when I finally have the smile that I’ve always dreamed off, it will all be worth it.”;;
