Daniel’s story
I never really had any major problems with my teeth. I had a couple of removed when I was in my teens and I’ve got some stumps left but they don’t really affect me.
Since I had my head accident I eat a lot of ice pops because I feel like it helps. My teeth haven’t been on the top of my list and I’m a smoker too which I know doesn’t help. I’ve had this abscess for probably about 8 or 9 years now which causes me a lot of pain.
The abscess in my mouth doesn’t hurt all the time, so some days it’s okay. I do take painkillers to manage the pain, although my doctors have told me I take too many paracetamols. I’ve taken some this morning and the pain has gone away a little bit, but by tonight it will have come back. It’s just been there for so long now and it’s something I’ve learnt how to deal with.
With my head accident I was the goalkeeper and we were losing in the last minute. I reached for a corner and someone else I was playing with went in to kick the ball – and they missed the ball and kicked me in the head instead. It was a complete accident but it has changed my life – I’ve got lasting damage, I’ve lost hearing in one ear, I get headaches, and I have ongoing seizures. After the accident I couldn’t look after myself. I had a fantastic job for 12 years in finance and a beautiful home in Devon. Unfortunately, in finance, especially at a big company, you can’t make a lot of mistakes. So I had to change my life and return to Andover because this is where my family are.
I don’t especially dislike Andover, but if you saw where I lived just outside of Brixham – I used to swim in the sea every morning – not a lot of people would give that up and move back to Andover unless they had to. Now I live in a hostel down the road from here.
I haven’t tried to get a dentist but you see on social media about how hard it is to get a dentist and I don’t even know if I would qualify to be an NHS patient somewhere. Today I was hoping you could look at the abscess and see if you can help.
Post appointment
They found a tooth that was causing all the problems and there’s a cyst and an abscess. They said they can take the tooth out today – so I can’t say long-term but I reckon things will stop hurting. The dentist and dental nurse were really nice – we talked about football and they think they can get everything sorted so I can go home and watch the snooker.