Trip to Dentist Saves Life

A fifteen-year-old girl has recently told of how a visit to the dentist led to her life being saved.

Teenager Anna Campbell was booked in to have four teeth taken out, when a normal test showed that her blood pressure was so high it she should have already been dead.

Anna was sent for a scan of her heart, revealing that her aorta (the biggest blood vessel at 14mm wide) was only 2mm in diameter.

She then underwent emergency medical treatment to save her life and correct this defect. Less than three months later she has recovered fully, saying: ‘If it wasn’t for my teeth, I wouldn’t be here today.’

Anna’s mother, Julia Campbell, from Littleover, Derbyshire, said that nobody knew at all that there was any life-threatening condition until Anna had the test done.

Anna had been to the Derbyshire Royal Infirmary to have her four teeth taken out before having braces. The nurses found that her blood pressure was at an extremely high level, stating that a blood clot or heart attack had been imminent for years.

Anna said of the experience: ‘It was shocking, I didn’t believe what they were telling me’. She did not feel as though anything was wrong with here.

Julia Campbell found it hard to understand the problem since Anna had never been ill in all her life. However, she added, ‘Her blood pressure was so high they couldn’t find a pulse in her foot.’

Julia also added that doctors told her that her daughter was the oldest survivor they had known who had suffered with such a narrow aorta.