A mother who assumed she had dental problems was horrified to be told her symptoms were due to an aggressive cancer – which later claimed half of her face.
Helen Butchart, 54, from Lochgelly, Fife, saw her dentist after developing a swelling in her face.
But when treatment – including antibiotics and the removal of three teeth – failed to help, she was referred on.
It was then that doctors revealed the real – and devastating cause of her symptoms – cancer of the maxillary sinuses.
These are the sinuses behind the cheeks, below the eyes and on either side of the nose.
To make matters worse, the cancer was so aggressive that surgeons were forced to make her a new cheekbone and palate using bone from her shoulder blade.
They also had to remove her right eye, during the staggering 22-hour operation at Glasgow’s Southern General hospital
Mother horrified to find out dental pain was cancer
