Abuse survivor faces $75,000 bill after ex-partner broke her teeth

By Louise Ternouth of RNZ
Warning: This story contains details of intimate partner violence.
A woman who had almost all of her teeth broken in a series of attacks by her then-partner says her mouth is going to kill her.
Ellie* cannot afford to get her teeth fixed, leading to infections in her mouth and gums which are excruciatingly painful and dangerous.
Even though she is a New Zealander, the attacks took place while she was living overseas, which means she is not eligible for ACC.
Advocates told RNZ this was an example of the dental system no longer being fit for purpose, and more targeted funding was needed.
Ellie left New Zealand over a decade ago after meeting her ex-partner at university. They then moved overseas together to his home country.
About a year later, she said, he became abusive.
“He started doing things to mess with my appearance. He always had a thing about me not looking good around any other people or in public.
“The first kind of physical altercation we had he had only broken one of my teeth and that was my right incisor.”
But it did not stop there. Over the next few years, almost all of her teeth were broken.
“I was always proud that I had really good teeth and he kind of knew that was the one thing he could do to my appearance that I could never change or fix.
“There had been an incident where he had slammed my face and my mouth into the kitchen bench, my face was slammed against that a few times.
“That first time my eye socket was broken as well as my nose and teeth in the process.”
She begged her ex-partner to let her get her teeth fixed, but he was controlling her finances.
Along with financial control, it was common for abusers to target the appearance of survivors, Sophie Maclaren, the advocacy manager at domestic abuse support group Shine, said.
“Particularly obviously if someone is trying to get away, they don’t want them to be physically attractive to anybody else and something like teeth is where a smile is.”
After five years of battling infections from her broken teeth, trying to leave her abuser, and being in and out of hospital with more injuries, Ellie fell pregnant.
She fled back to New Zealand on an emergency travel document.
She has tried to get her teeth seen to back home but was advised by a dentist that because she was overseas for more than six months, she was not eligible for ACC cover.
ACC said it was unable to comment on her case as she did not have an active claim, but said clients with domestic violence injuries could be covered under ACC.
“As ACC is a no-fault scheme a client is eligible for cover by virtue of suffering an injury.
“ACC is largely reliant on the information a person, or their treatment provider provides on the ACC45 injury claim form, which is completed when a person seeks treatment for their injuries.”
Sophie Maclaren said clients that came through Shine with dental injuries were normally able to get their teeth fixed via ACC.
She said getting dental injuries fixed was crucial in a recovery journey.
“It’s a very personal thing and it’s also a reminder everyday of what they’ve experienced, it’s really important that that would be fixed so they could recover to their fullest.”
Ellie has been quoted up to $75,000 to fix her teeth in a letter RNZ has viewed.
She said she could not afford that price and was in excruciating pain.
“It’s worse than giving birth. There’s nights where I just scream into the pillow to just try to get some relief, I don’t even know how to describe it.
“It’s unbearable having to live like that, I just feel like some soulless being that’s just moving through life.”
She was constantly on antibiotics, drained her infections with syringes and had made her own fake teeth with melted beads and fake nails.
She had suffered heart issues, seizures and flu-like symptoms and in 2023, needed to stop working because she was too unwell.
“My teeth are going to kill me,” she said.
A report commissioned by Dental for All revealed our dental system was costing New Zealand $2.5 billion a year in lost productivity, and $3.1b in lost life satisfaction or quality of life.
It also estimated $103 million was spent on sick days.
The Dental Association has long called for access to funded oral care for adults aged up to 23 years old and high needs patients.
There was an ongoing issue of patients turning up to the emergency department with dental infections, director of dental policy Robin Whyman said.
A study showed that over a five-year period, about two people a day were turning up to Waikato Hospital with dental issues. One patient returned to the emergency department 13 times.
Some Ministry of Social Development funding was available to cover dental costs via a special needs grant of $1000, but Whyman said that did not go far enough and vulnerable groups needed funded dental care.
“That’s where we see this significant rise and consequences in the early adult years it is harder we accept the fact it’s harder … and then we think that actually it needs to be particular high needs groups where funded schemes would be appropriate to be put in place.”
Whyman said in some situations a hospital dentist or oral surgeon could treat a patient via a referral through a GP or dentist.
Ellie had two of her teeth pulled out by a hospital dentist when she became septic a few years ago.
But her GP’s referral for her to be seen as an outpatient was denied and, in a letter seen by RNZ, she was told to see a community dentist – something she could not afford.
Two charities contacted her in 2023, but after assessing her in person, they turned her away, she said.
She has resorted to creating a Givealittle page to try to raise money to fix her teeth and piece her life back together.
*Name has been changed.
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