I Lost All My Teeth Aged 23 | BORN DIFFERENT

BY THE time she was just 23, Alex had a full set of dentures - but that has not stopped her smiling. Born with a genetic issue that means she has brittle teeth, she was in and out of the dentist's office as a child. "I always had cavities, no matter how much I brushed," she said. "In my teens, my teeth really started to deteriorate. I remember one time in high school, I was eating pizza, and all of a sudden, I felt this shooting pain. My tooth cracked off while I had been eating." Aged 18, Alex underwent 22 root canal surgeries in a bid to save her smile - but within a year, things had worsened to the point where she needed all her teeth pulled. At just 21, dentists warned she needed dentures. "I felt completely alone. I sat on it for a good year before I went through with it because I was so scared," she recalled. Aged 22, Alex had her upper denture fitted, followed by the lower one a year later. Though she had initially felt insecure about needing dentures so young, seeing her new smile for the first time gave her a huge confidence boost. She said: "Seeing that beautiful, full set of white teeth was amazing." Now, Alex regularly shares her story online to normalise tooth loss. She receives lots of questions, from what foods she can eat to what her husband Adam thinks, but is happy to open up in the name of education. She concluded: "I want people to know it's okay to be young and have dentures. Teeth don't define who you are."
To follow Alex, visit https://www.instagram.com/_myreasontosmile/ and https://www.tiktok.com/@myreasontosmile