The false teeth that fooled the world

(By Dr. Joseph D. Lim and Dr. Kenneth Lester Lim, BS-MMG, DDM, MSc-OI)

PAUL BISHOP vomited his dentures into a Spanish trash bin many many years ago.

Then a DNA analysis seemingly returned the dentures back into his possession in the United Kingdom.

The real story on how it happened is even weirder.

Like all great mysteries, it started with the strange arrival of a thick envelope bearing a Spanish postmark.

The 63-year-old civil servant from Greater Manchester wasn’t expecting any mail from Spain. He didn’t even know anyone in Spain.

Mr. Bishop certainly didn’t expect to find what was in the package: a complete top set of false teeth. His own teeth, in fact.

These are teeth he had last seen 11 years ago on a boozy holiday to Spain. Teeth with a story to tell.

Within the day, Mr. Bishop was a news sensation who went viral. The local BBC news program interviewed him. Then national radio and TV stations followed suit. Mr. Bishop’s story was everywhere even in the internet.

Here’s what really happened. Eleven years ago during a friend’s 50th birthday, he downed what was left of his pint of cider.

He threw up what was consumed during the night – along with the top set of dentures, he told the Manchester Evening News. It was the last time he saw the dentures, and that would have been that.

Until the mysterious package arrived 11 years later.

The dentures Bishop received in the mail no longer fit. Two dentists say that unless Bishop has had teeth implants, then the teeth he received in the mail belonged to someone else.

Bishop is just as stunned as anyone about the uncertain origins of the returning dentures. “I don’t know anyone that could think of a prank that deep and that involved,” he says.

This story was written by Matt Reynolds, a senior writer at WIRED where it was published last February. Mr. Reynolds covers climate, food, and biodiversity. Before that, he was a technology journalist at New Scientist magazine.

His first book, “The Future of Food: How to Feed the Planet Without Destroying It”, was published in 2020. Reynolds is a graduate of the University of Oxford and he lives in London.

We retell this story to illustrate that strange things could happen to a set of dentures.

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Dr. Joseph D. Lim is the former Associate Dean of the College of Dentistry, University of the East; former Dean, College of Dentistry, National University; Past President and Honorary Fellow of the Asian Oral Implant Academy; Honorary Fellow of the Japan College of Oral Implantologists; and Honorary Life Member of the Thai Association of Dental Implantology. For questions on dental health, e-mail jdlim2008@gmail.com or text 0917-8591515.

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Dr. Kenneth Lester Lim, BS-MMG, DDM, MSc-OI, graduated Doctor of Dental Medicine, University of the Philippines College of Dentistry, Manila, 2011; Bachelor of Science in Marketing Management, De la Salle University, Manila, 2002; and Master of Science (MSc.) in Oral Implantology, Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany, 2019. He is an Associate professor; Fellow, International Congress of Oral Implantologists; Member, American Academy of Implant Dentistry and Philippine College of Oral Implantologists. For questions on dental health, e-mail limdentalcenter@gmail.com/PN