Mom Loses All Her Teeth After 4 Pregnancies: They’re ‘Crumbling And Falling Apart’

A social media personality lost all her teeth after four pregnancies and started wearing full dentures by age 34.

Alicia Hebner, who goes by Princess Glitterhead on TikTok and Instagram, started losing her adult teeth when she was pregnant with her first child at the age of 21, 7News.com.au reported. She had gotten married the year before.

"We had our first daughter. That's when I noticed my teeth starting to hurt more, being more sensitive," Hebner was quoted as saying by the outlet.

Hebner, now a 36-year-old mother of four, recalled that her teeth became "yellow really fast" and "felt like they were getting soft." She then lost two of her teeth within two weeks of each other.

Her dental health only continued to deteriorate with each of her four pregnancies. "Every pregnancy I've had, I've lost teeth. During the years between the pregnancies, I don't really remember my teeth doing much other than crumbling and falling apart," Hebner said.

Hebner eventually got all her decayed teeth pulled, a procedure her insurance covered.

The mother said that she was predisposed to the tooth loss and rotting she experienced and that the pregnancy only accelerated decaying. She described being malnourished as a child and into adulthood due to allergies and being a picky eater.

Todd Shatkin, Hebner’s dentist, said that her case is an anomaly but explained that pregnancy can take a toll on the body and pre-existing conditions do increase the chance of tooth loss.

"When you go through pregnancy, a lot of things change in a woman’s body. You have a lot of hormones. You use up a lot of nutrients in your body to feed the child. And sometimes you lose calcium in your bones and in your teeth, and you can get more recurrent decay," the dentist said.

Tooth loss and rotting during pregnancy are not uncommon and are primarily caused by pregnancy gingivitis. This happens when hormonal changes during pregnancy cause gums to loosen their grip around the tooth and hasten decay.

Around 60% to 75% of people experience gingivitis during pregnancy, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

New York City-based dentist Catrise Austin said the key signs of the condition are redness, swelling, tenderness and teeth decaying or becoming loose — the latter of which can potentially lead to teeth becoming mobile and even falling out.

The condition occurs naturally, and there's not much that can stop it once it is already present. But Austin said one way to manage it is by increasing dental visits.

"I know we recommend as a dentist that you go to the dentist every six months. Sometimes we want to monitor you a little bit more frequently because we want to control the bacterial levels," she said.

Hebner, who has been sharing her story with her 2.4 million TikTok followers, insisted that potential tooth loss shouldn't change a person's family planning goals.

"If you want to start a family, focus on all those positive things, all those good things," she said. "No matter what happens health-wise, having children far outweighs anything that could happen."

Hebner now uses her platform to break the stigma surrounding dentures.