One in ten Britons pull their own teeth, fill cavities, or do other DIY dental work on themselves

One in ten Britons have acted as their own dentists—pulling teeth and even attempting root canals—according to a new YouGov survey. Why? Because 20% of Britons don't have a regular dentist with 37% of them saying they can't find one who will see them and 23% believe they couldn't afford it anyway. From YouGOv:

The survey revealed cases of people using cement and superglue to fix crowns and dentures, killing an infection with urine, using 'heated polybeads' to replace a missing tooth and applying chemical metal (an adhesive usually used for household or outdoor repairs) as a filling.

A third (34%) of those who revealed what kind of dental work they'd attempted say they pulled out – or tried to pull out – their own teeth.

A similar proportion (32%) gave themselves fillings, while others removed or repaired crowns (4%), tried their hand at a scale and polish (4%), filed their broken teeth down (3%) or treated their own abscesses and infections (3%).