The DIY dentist

A man pulled out six of his own teeth rather than wait three weeks for an NHS appointment or pay hundreds of pounds to go private.

Taxi driver Arthur Haupt took the drastic DIY action using a technique learned in the Army because he was in so much pain.

Mr Haupt pulled his teeth out trying to see a dentist at the ADP NHS dental practice, in Asfordby Road, Melton.



Despite being in agony, staff said he would need to fill in a form and go back in about three weeks' time.

When he tried a private dentist nearby, he was quoted £75 for each of the six teeth he wanted out. The same procedure costs £43.60 per tooth on the NHS.

Mr Haupt, 67, said: "I went home, got the pliers out and did it myself. I pulled one tooth out and all this black stuff came from underneath it, but within an hour my headache had gone. "I pulled the others out over the next couple of weeks. There's a bit of pain at first, but it was nothing like the pain I was in when I first went to the dentist."