The gift of smile - Jamaicans offered free dentures in second chance smile initiative

Before Monday, Ashman Clarke had a near toothless grin. He was afraid to approach females for fear of being ridiculed, and his confidence was rock-bottom due to the loss of most of the teeth in the top row of his mouth.

Being unable to properly bite into hard food such as yam and dumplings paled in comparison to the problems the 43-year-old faced due to his missing teeth. He said that it was hard for him to secure a job, and even harder to attempt to whisper sweet nothings in the ears of a female.

"My top lip drop in like flat bridge, and when I talked to girls and had to laugh, I had to put my hands over my mouth as it was shameful, and no girl really wanted to kiss me," Clarke said.

But the days of him covering his mouth or hanging his head in shame are now behind the Black River native. The gardener now grins from ear to ear, showing off a mouth full of teeth. His new smile, paid for by taxpayers, has been made possible by a free false teeth programme, which is being rolled out by the Ministry of Health and Wellness.

"Mi really feel good. Me feel more polite. Me feel like me can talk to more people and me feel like me can look inna yuh face and laugh wid yuh now. First time me used to laugh and tun weh me head, but me feel like me can look pon yuh and laugh now," Clarke, who also answers to the name Bruk Up, said.

Dubbed the Second Chance Smiles Oral Health & Dentures Replacement initiative, the programme plans to give 10,000 Jamaicans under the age of 60 years old an opportunity to get free dentures through the country's public-run dental centres across the island.

Portfolio minister Dr Christopher Tufton said in Parliament yesterday that $60 million will be spent on the programme over the next 18 months.

The minister said that Second Chance Smiles is a response to "a pet peeve" that he has about what appears to be a preference of dentists to perform extractions rather than preserving people's permanent teeth. He said that more than 62,000 extractions were done last year.

"When we extract, particularly poor people's teeth, particularly when they are in the productive years of their lives, we might address the pain, but we also restrict their life chances for happiness and economic gain," Tufton said.

He continued: "A 35-year-old young man without any front teeth, is likely to be less employable and less likely to find the ideal partner, either in the economic sphere or the social sphere, than someone of a similar age with all his working parts."

This pain is something that Clarke knows very well. He said that he lost his first front teeth at 13 years old while eating a mango, and his self-confidence sank with each additional extraction. Even as he wished he had done more to care for his teeth in younger years, Clarke is grateful for a second chance for a bright smile.

"It has been a great change in my life. I can remember, back then, I go to places to get work and because yuh mouth don't look good yuh don't get the work. Even a girl, yuh see a girl and yuh like har, and yuh waah talk to har, and tru yuh know seh yuh don't have proper front teeth yuh don't call to her. But I think this will change it a very, very lot," Clarke said.

Adjusting to his new look, which has been enhanced by his dentures, Clarke said that his only challenge is learning to eat with them. He, however, anticipates that the teething pain will soon be over, and not long from now he will be able to bite into, and enjoy his all-time favourite food, dumplings.