Woman wears dentures at age 24 after constant vomiting ‘wiped out’ her teeth

A woman has revealed that she wears dentures at the age of 24 after her teeth fell out due to constant vomiting of drugs.

Natalie Lacasse of Vancouver was prescribed painkillers when she was 18 years old. However, as a side effect, she developed stomach ulcers, which caused her to vomit almost continuously for almost five months.

At just 19 years old, she lost her teeth and had to wear dentures.

Natalie then struggled with her self-confidence and continued to hide her mouth. But now she’s taking to TikTok to share her story and how she learned to accept and embrace her new smile.

“Sometimes I forget it’s not normal and I smile at someone or talk to a cashier without my dentures and they look like they’ve seen a ghost or they don’t look away from my mouth,” Natalie said.

“Until last year I was constantly hiding my smile and teeth.

“When I was talking or laughing I would cover my mouth and I was really shocked that anyone, even my own family, saw me do it.” [or] without my dentures.

“Over the years I’ve dealt with the stigma and assumption that my teeth are preventing me from taking care of myself or abusing substances and that has really impacted my mental health.

“As soon as doctors see my teeth or hear about my dental situation, they always ask about drug use, and when I say I’ve never used anything, I’m usually met with some kind of disbelief.”

Natalie’s oral problems date back to her childhood. She has suffered from chronic pain since she was 12 years old. This was due to a condition called temporomandibular joint disease (TMD) that caused her left jaw joint to malfunction.

She ended up in the hospital at age 18 after a car accident tore her lower back muscle and doctors prescribed naproxen for the pain. She was then advised to take the painkiller for two weeks.

Unfortunately, the side effects were serious.

“I had no idea about the effects of these drugs on the digestive and stomach systems,” Natalie said.

“When I had stomach ulcers, I vomited for months, thinking I was doing the right thing by brushing my teeth as soon as I threw up.

“I had no idea it was the opposite of what you do when you get sick because all you do is brush the acid in your teeth and destroy the enamel. I brushed my teeth as I did it.

“Doctors are incredibly quick to force these heavy drugs on young people rather than first resorting to other forms of pain relief, such as physical therapy.”

Faced with the reality of losing her teeth, Natalie retreated into herself and stopped doing makeup, meeting friends, or even taking pictures.

She soon noticed how “destructive” strangers treated her after seeing her mouth. She once cried “every day” while working to pay for dentures.

Natalie saved for every tooth at once. So far, she’s spent $5,000 on her new smile, but found it hard to accept that it was different from the one she knew.

“It felt like I was punched in the stomach,” she explained. “I expected my smile to return to normal and when it didn’t I did everything I could not to break down in front of the dentist because they were happy for me.

“After my very first dentures (in April 2019), as soon as I left the office, I spent the entire walk home crying on the phone with my mom.

“Each tooth that was added and then exposed was a little heartbreaking, but once I added the last six it was hard to look in the mirror. And to this day it still hurts when I put my see old smile in pictures.”

Natalie is currently waiting for a special prosthesis because of her slightly underdeveloped left jaw joint.

Your current dentures are for “purely aesthetic” purposes. She can’t eat with them and has trouble speaking properly.

“Because it’s a standard prosthesis, even with glue, it puts too much strain on my jaw and nerves,” she noted.

Dentures also hurt.

“The headaches I get every day turn into migraines, so I only wear them as props or for pictures,” she adds.

“I still find it hard to eat in public because I have an incredibly hard time eating without upper teeth and a lot of broken lower teeth – and that often leads to the worst reactions.

“I’ve been gagged by people trying to eat, wouldn’t ask me if I wanted to eat something because of my teeth, and I’ve even seen people sarcastically try to give me soup or something incredibly crunchy for fun or as an offer difficult.

“I feel comfortable not wearing them because of the pain, but my anxiety when I don’t wear them is something I still struggle with and something [sharing my story on] TikTok really helped me start conquering.”

Currently, Natalie is hoping for jaw reconstruction to relieve some pain from the TMD she still struggles with.

“In my county, dentures are not covered, and I will consider $16,000 to restore my jaw and teeth with a special upper denture that supports my left temporomandibular joint,” she explained.

“Doctors say this will eliminate all chronic pain, but unfortunately my dental technician can’t proceed with the final treatment until the underlying cause is addressed.”

Despite Natalie’s struggles, posting her story on social media has provided her with a source of “light.”

She emphasizes that laughter is key to finding calm and building community for others in similar situations.

“I’m really trying not only to entertain myself during this very difficult time, but also to bring humor and light to chronic pain,” she said.

“When I started this process, I didn’t see anyone like me, and I’m just trying to be a 19-year-old that I look up to.”