'I look like a monster': Mother left toothless after £4,000 of botched dental work

A mother says she feels like a monster after a bungled £4,000 dental procedure left her totally toothless. Gabriela Andrews, 48, now has just a few jagged bones for teeth and faces a bill for more than £15,000 to repair her smile.

 But she has been left powerless to get compensation for the botched treatment because the private dentist who gave her dental implants in Cornwall in January 2010 has since moved to Poland and been struck off. She said: ‘I have been left looking like a monster.

 I’m embarrassed when I talk. ‘I feel like people are staring at me. My confidence has been affected, my speech has been affected, I can’t eat solid food and nobody does you justice.

‘To be left like this, you can’t believe it can happen in this country. There’s nothing I can do. I have a mortgage to pay and bills. I cannot afford to fix this. I don’t want other people to fall in to this situation.’ The work had been undertaken by self-employed dentist Piotr Tadeusz Reichel. Dr Reichel’s licence to practise has been suspended by the General Dental Council ‘for protection of the public and in the public interest’ - in relation to care of several patients. Gabriela, from Keysham, Devon, said: ‘I went back to the clinic but they said the dentist is self-employed and it’s his responsibility, his insurance will pay. Follow @todaysgist

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