For more than two years, John lived with a secret.
Not a small one, either. He'd worked his way through a lifetime of broken teeth, bridges, root canals and countless caps – "I must hold the world record for root canal treatments," he laughs – before the final bridge gave way and he was left wearing a full upper denture.
He hated it from the start.
"It was the worst experience of my life. You can't taste food. It covers the whole of your palate. I just got so fed up with this piece of plastic — I had to do something about it."
There were the small daily indignities. The Amazon driver who turned up unannounced while John was at home with the denture out: "the guy looked at me like I was a maniac." The FaceTime call from his son-in-law that he answered without thinking: "Where's your teeth?" The Millwall match where he'd left them at home and walked through the crowd in a face mask, pretending he had a cold.
And then there were the meals. The 60th birthday dinner where he couldn't taste a thing. The restaurants where, if no one was looking, he'd quietly take his denture out under the table just to be able to enjoy his food.
"Bread was awful. Potatoes tasted horrible. I covered everything in pickle and gravy because, you know, you've got to eat."
He didn't tell his son. He didn't tell his daughter. Not even his closest friends at the football knew.
That was when he started looking.
John spent weeks researching. He looked at countless companies. He kept coming back to Truly Dental.
Some of it was the photographs and the way the clinic looked. Some of it was a video he'd seen on Instagram of one of the team explaining the treatment and the cost openly. Some of it was simply the people he asked who'd already heard of Truly. Whatever it was, he booked his consultation.
His biggest worry wasn't the treatment itself. It was being told it couldn't be done.
"After all the work I'd had over the years, I didn't think they'd find anywhere to put the implants because of my bone structure."
The nurse took him round for X-rays and scans, looked at the screen, and gave him the answer he'd been quietly hoping for.
"She said, 'No, it's lovely.' That was a big relief. I could actually have it done."
A few weeks later, John was in the chair under sedation. He remembers laughing and chatting with the team, drifting off, and waking up in the recovery room with a nurse who must have come in "a hundred times" to check on him.
There was no pain. There was no drama. And then they handed him a mirror.
"They put these temporary teeth in. Oh, wow. To be honest, if they'd said, 'These are the teeth you're going to have,' I'd have said fine. He brought a mirror over — I felt brilliant."
That same evening, he went home and his wife cooked him sausage, mash and beans.
"I ate it. The very first night."
It was a meal he hadn't really tasted in years.
It's been almost a year now and John hasn't had a single toothache.
He doesn't worry about answering the door anymore. He doesn't slip a mask on before walking into a football ground. He doesn't have to dash to the toilet mid-conversation to readjust anything. He just gets on with his day.
"I'm more confident. I can smile. I haven't got to worry about going out and forgetting them. Hand on my heart, it's the best thing I ever did."
He goes out for breakfast now – something he'd never have bothered with before. He's the first to suggest a meal out. And he's stopped keeping his story to himself.
"I tell people now. I haven't got to be embarrassed anymore. I could get pliers — they're not coming out."
There's a small Millwall story he tells about another supporter sat near him in the stand. The bloke jumped up to celebrate a goal and his denture nearly flew out of his mouth. John still laughs about it.
"I felt like going over and saying — go to Truly Dental."
His advice to anyone reading this and putting the decision off?
"Do it. In the long run, it'll save you money. You'll get your confidence back. I feel taller. I really do. I just wish I'd have done it years ago."
— John, Truly Dental UK patient
