'I lost all my teeth aged 19 because of painkillers'

A 26-year-old woman lost all of her teeth and has to wear a full set of dentures after her smile was “obliterated” when painkillers she was taking caused her to continuously vomit, leading to the breakdown of her teeth. Natalie Lacasse was just 19 when she first had to wear dentures and has struggled with self-confidence.

Natalie said: “Needing to take out both my top and bottom dentures in an intimate moment makes me feel the last thing from sexy, the last thing from wanting to be touched [or] kiss.” While she said her boyfriend “doesn’t care one bit”, Natalie said she is often close to tears due to the issue – which isn’t something she considered prior to getting her teeth fitted.

She said: “This is a big question when people get dentures or are getting them is ‘Can I be intimate while wearing dentures?’ But when I was [first] getting dentures I was 19, and I did not think that to be intimate with my partner I’d have to take out my teeth.”

While she originally had a partial denture fitted – which can remain in – the type Natalie now has need to be removed as she has “no sense of where her teeth are” during intimate moments. Natalie said the issue comes from taking a “pause” during the moment to take out her teeth, which can be “awkward”.

She said of her boyfriend of eight years: “I have the best partner I could ever have asked for to be on this journey with me. All my confidence issues stem from within – he hasn’t said or done anything to make me feel insecure about having dentures. I feel like my denture has played such a role in me not even wanting to be intimate or close or physical.

“It’s not the sexiest thing [to have to remove dentures] and it doesn’t make me feel sexy. [Over the last few years] I want to hide under a pillow. There’s a big stigma around women especially who are toothless.

“It takes a lot for us [denture wearers] to take that first step towards being intimate because we know at some point they’re going to have to come out. I’ve had teeth go flying in the moment.”

Natalie says her dentures affect things like kissing and even hugging, saying if she is hugged too tightly by someone taller, her teeth will pop out. She added: “It is so important to have a compassionate partner. You need someone who’s going to be that rock for you.”

Natalie’s dental issues date back to when she was 18 and involved in a car crash, which tore her lower back muscle. Doctors prescribed her with naproxen for the pain and advised her to take it for two weeks – but a side effect of the medication caused stomach ulcers, which left Natalie vomiting “for months”.

She said: “I thought I was doing the right thing by brushing my teeth as soon as I’d vomit. I had no idea that’s the opposite of what you do after getting sick, as you’re only brushing the acid into your teeth, breaking down the enamel. I obliterated my teeth by doing this.”

Since then, she has struggled with ill-fitting dentures and even spent nearly two years toothless and letting her empty gums be exposed. After finally getting a permanent set of dentures fitted last year, Natalie said the overall boost to her confidence levels has been “mind-blowing”.

She said: “After years of having bad teeth, then bad dentures, then to no teeth for nearly two years – the only way I can describe having proper teeth now is surreal. It’s still been so weird to see myself with teeth, and proper teeth that don’t hurt. I thought I had gotten comfortable and confident being toothless – but now my confidence is on a whole different level.

“I don’t feel the need to hide my smile when I laugh, yawn or talk, I’m able to actually enjoy the holidays again, and be in public comfortably – I owe my new teeth everything. I got to a point in my journey where I accepted I wouldn’t be able to eat again, smile, or have no dental pain; and now realising that’s not the case? It’s been a whirlwind.

“All my expectations were wrong in the best way possible. “I knew I was missing out on a lot when I had no teeth - but I had no idea just how much I had missed out on until now.”