A DENTIST has given an elderly woman her smile back after her dentures went missing during an operation at Colchester General Hospital.

Janet Liao, who works at Clacton Dental Care, fitted the pensioner’s false teeth after reading of her plight in the Gazette.

Following hip surgery, Jane Read’s mother was unable to leave hospital to attend the dentist and spent about seven months unable to eat or smile properly.

Mrs Liao said: “Every once in a while I see poorly patients being rushed to hospital for emergency treatment and then they say their dentures have being lost. Luckily for them, they’re usually healthy enough to see me again very shortly.

“I spoke to my husband, who used to be a surgeon at Colchester Hospital, about it, and he said it’s a problem which exists but there’s no resources to deal with it.

“When a patient comes in, unless it’s a planned operation, there are lots of things going on. If a person’s life is at stake, a set of dentures is the last item on the list to worry about.

“But he agreed without dentures, a person’s recovery will be reduced because they’re unable to get the right nutrition and won’t recover as quickly.”

Just as important is how dentures affect the appearance of the face - something which the 88-year-old was quite embarrassed about.

However, she thanked the dental surgery for what it did to help her.

Her daughter, Jane, of Bures, said: “Both my mum and I are grateful because had the story have not featured in the newspaper, I wouldn’t have got that response.

“Without the dental clinic’s help, we might have still been in the same position.

“My mum is at least able to eat a bit better now and having some teeth does help on that front.”