After years of hiding his mouth whenever he laughed, a divorced father who was left with just 12 teeth says he convinced himself no woman would want to date him.
Colin Blanchard, 54, a courier from London, spent years living with severe gum disease that gradually loosened his teeth. Eating became painful, dentures no longer fitted properly, and the embarrassment eventually became worse than the physical discomfort.
“I’d look in the mirror and think, if I met someone with teeth like mine, would I be attracted to them? Probably not. That’s how little confidence I had.”
"I covered my mouth whenever I laughed"
Although Colin’s dental problems had been getting worse for years, he says the emotional impact truly hit after his divorce.
Moving away meant rebuilding his social life from scratch and meeting new people, but instead of looking forward to it, he became consumed by how his teeth looked.
"I covered my mouth whenever I laughed. If I was talking to someone I didn't know, I'd automatically put my hand over my face. I stopped taking photographs because I hated seeing my smile."
Living with gum disease also meant constant pain.
His teeth became so loose that even biting into simple foods was impossible. He avoided apples altogether, pushed food to the back of his mouth to chew and suffered repeated abscesses as food became trapped between his teeth and gums.
"I was nervous every time I ate because I knew moving one tooth could leave me in agony for days."
Dentures also offered little relief. As his remaining teeth shifted, they no longer fitted properly and eventually became so painful that he stopped wearing them.
“Wow, Colin, look at the state of your teeth”
When he explored care in the UK, he was quoted around £60,000 for full-mouth treatment – a figure he says was completely beyond his reach.
At that point, Colin felt he had no choice but to live with the problem.
"I just thought that was it. I couldn't afford it, so I carried on trying to manage."
The moment that finally changed everything came during a day out with friends.
Someone he hadn’t seen for years looked at him and said: “Wow, Colin, look at the state of your teeth.”
"It completely knocked me. My teeth had got worse gradually, so I hadn't really noticed just how bad they'd become until someone else pointed it out."
Around the same time, one of his front teeth had started to protrude so far forward that it would dry out when he was outside. He says this made it look dirty no matter how much he cleaned it.
"I became obsessed with checking it. I didn't want people thinking I didn't look after myself."
"My last 12 teeth were beyond saving"
After speaking to two friends who had undergone dental treatment arranged through Longevita, Colin contacted the UK-registered medical travel facilitator to explore his options.
Following a 3D scan, he learned his teeth were beyond saving due to advanced bone loss from gum disease. A staged plan was subsequently developed across two trips to Turkey, combining full extractions, bone grafting, implants, and later porcelain crowns.
Despite the long process, he decided it was worth it.
His mum, seeing how much his confidence had deteriorated, offered to lend him the money needed for treatment.
"She said, 'I can't watch you feeling like this anymore.' That meant everything."
“Four months without teeth wasn’t the hardest part”
Colin travelled to Istanbul alone for the first stage of his treatment, having never visited Turkey before.
He says the process, including the healing period, was clearly explained from the outset. He was advised not to wear dentures between the two stages of treatment to allow the bone grafts and implants to heal.
As a result, he spent four months without teeth before returning for his crowns.
“I’d already been struggling to eat properly,” he says. “Four months without teeth wasn’t the hardest part.”
"I'm not trying to hide anymore"
With his treatment now complete and his crowns in place, today the biggest difference isn’t only what he sees in the mirror – it’s how he lives.
He smiles without thinking, no longer avoids photographs and doesn’t instinctively cover his mouth while talking.
"It's the little things people don't think about. I love walking down the street smiling now. I actually enjoy people looking at me because I'm not trying to hide anymore."
For someone who spent years surviving on softer foods, one of his first moments after completing treatment was surprisingly simple.
"I already knew exactly what I wanted to eat. I went straight to a restaurant because I just wanted to enjoy a proper meal again.
When asked about his dating life, he says it’s still early days.
“I haven’t really had the chance to get back into dating yet,” he says. “I’m getting used to everything again,” he adds with a laugh.
"Now I wake up, smile in the mirror and like the person looking back."
Having lived with gum disease for years, Colin says the experience completely changed how seriously he now takes his oral health.
"I never skip cleaning my crowns. I water floss several times a day because I never want to go back to how life was before."
He also hopes other men don’t make the same mistake he did by ignoring problems for too long.
“Men definitely put things off. You always think you’ve got more time, but you don’t realise how important it is until there’s a real problem.”
For Colin, though, the hardest part was never the pain.
