WARNING: CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT
A woman who refuses to pay for dental treatments has managed to save money over the years by doing it all herself at home - having even asked her husband to remove one of her teeth. Watch below:
While many of us moan about forking out a small fortune every time we visit the dentist, we know there isn't really an alternative. Well, not a particularly safe one.
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But Karen Hearn prefers to take the DIY approach, performing all her own procedures from the comfort of her own home.
In a previous episode of TLC's Extreme Cheapskates, the self-confessed cheapskate explained how she's 'saved thousands of dollars' by not going to the dentist or the doctor.
She had a slight problem when she started suffering from chronic toothache, and after trying clove oil, ice and over-the-counter products, she 'finally gave up' and went to the dentist.
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In the episode, Karen was told by the dentist that she had an abscess on her tooth, and that she needed a root canal and a crown costing an eye-watering $1,800.
The dentist then told her there was a cheaper option, which involved simply removing the dodgy tooth for $185 - a price she still wasn't willing to pay.
We then saw Karen back at home with her husband Gary, who she roped in to remove the tooth with the help of a YouTube video, having performed various procedures at home before.
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Grant said: "I don't like the idea of pulling my wife's teeth out.
"What if I pull the wrong one or something? But my wife threatened to take her own tooth out so this needs to be taken care of."
The couple set up a makeshift clinic in their living room, numbing Karen's gum with some gel and creating a dental vacuum out of household objects - namely a vacuum cleaner and a straw.
Karen explained they had a barber's tool to extract the tooth, saying: "The extraction will actually take place using this barber's tool, we found it at a yard sale.
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"[It was] used back in the early 1920s and 1930s for when people used to go to the barber rather than a dentist to have their tooth pulled."
All-in-all, their DIY experiment cost the pair just $10 - that's $175 cheaper than the treatment being offered by the dentist.
While much cheaper, the procedure didn't look particularly comfortable, although Karen didn't seem too fussed.
She said: "Pain only lasts a short time but saving that money lasts so much longer
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"Even if I won the lottery today, I wouldn't change."
Featured Image Credit: TLC
Topics: News, Teeth, US News, dentist