A woman in her 20s is having to wear dentures after a 'botched' root canal caused a severe infection.
Alex Sandroski, 24, was born with short roots and had struggled with toothache since she was a child. She would often find herself losing teeth as she was growing up.
After struggling with infections and breakage throughout her teenage years, Alex made the decision to get a root canal treatment and crowns on her remaining teeth.
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But Alex, from Pennsylvania, USA, claims the procedure was a "botched" job and she still suffered from infections.
"I missed a lot of school because I would be up all night with a bad toothache and when I was 12, I was given braces for the first time which worsened my condition," said Alex.
"The cavities got worse and the dentist discovered I had short roots during the time I had braces meaning my teeth were getting extremely loose and breaking.
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"I had to have the braces removed and a permanent wire put on the back of my teeth to keep them in place.
"But whenever I would eat something, my teeth would crack off and crumble into my mouth.
"When I was 18 I found a dentist and we came up with a treatment plan - he ended up doing a root canal on most of my remaining teeth with a crown on top.
"I had problems from day one of doing that - he didn't do the work properly and it was done too quickly so everything started to fail and before I knew it, I was having infection after infection."
Alex made the decision when she was just 22 to have all her teeth removed and have dentures instead because she couldn't afford dental implants.
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"My teeth were so infected that there was nothing I could do and financially, I couldn't afford dental implants so I made the difficult decision and felt extremely sad about it," said Alex.
Alex, blames genetics for her teeth troubles. Her grandmother had dentures at the same age and her mother also struggles with tooth pain. On her dad's side, they all have short roots meaning they are prone to breakage too.
"People think it's my fault for not looking after my teeth properly but it's genetic," said Alex.
"There's a lot of judgement from people online but I've learned to laugh at it now - in the beginning it was hard."
Alex, who now works as a dispatcher for a dental company, struggled with her new fake teeth, refusing to leave the house at first.
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But she has now accepted her decision and loves telling people about her new fake teeth.
"Right now, I'm at a point where I'm happy, pain free and pleased with my decision to get dentures," said Alex.
"The dentures look very realistic and no one knows I have them until I tell them - I love seeing people's reactions for the first time."
Alex wants to show other women and girls that getting dentures is not as scary as they may think.
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"It's been life changing for me but in a good way," says Alex.
Featured Image Credit: Caters