A man is warning people to 'never ignore tooth pain' - after his holiday toothache turned out to be a cancer eating the bones in his face. Edd Vieira first started experiencing toothache whilst visiting his family on the island of Madeira.

The 42-year-old says he had a 'dull ache' on his left canine tooth, before all his front and left teeth began aching and started 'wobbling'. Thinking he had maybe pulled a tooth or a 'root had gone', Edd decided to go to the dentist as it was 'cheaper' to get an appointment on the island than in the UK.

Whilst visiting the dentist Edd had a routine X-ray where the dentist said it was 'weird' that he could see no bone. Edd underwent a CT scan that revealed a mass was growing on the left side of his sinus cavity, which was moving onto the right side under his nose and that there was no bone on the left side of his upper jaw.

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The self-employed mechanical engineer was told he would need a biopsy to confirm what the mass but was due to fly home the next day. After landing back in the UK and undergoing further testing at Kettering Hospital in September, on October 22nd Edd received the news that he has stage two diffuse large b-cell lymphoma, a type of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma blood cancer.

X-rays show how Edd's tumour had also eaten its way through all the bone in his left side of his upper jaw and he is now urging others not to ignore a toothache as you 'never know what is hiding behind it'. Edd who lives in Corby, Northamptonshire, said: "I expected it to be a cavity or something, get a filling and be done with it. I didn't expect it to be cancer and to be going through all this treatment that has affected our lives and my health so much.

"When the doctor told me it was cancer, it felt unexpected, but something that I saw as a problem that we needed to resolve. So, in my usual way of dealing with life, if there's a problem, we fix it. That's maybe the mechanical engineer in me talking.

"It was a dull ache on my left canine tooth, and all the front and left teeth were also aching and started wobbling, which is what raised my concern. I had no other symptoms at all. I couldn't blow my nose because it would hurt, and I felt a small hard lump by my right-side nostril which I thought maybe was normal, I wasn't looking for lumps, so it wasn't until after diagnosis that I realised it was linked.

"If I left the toothache, matters would have got worse and the cancer would have spread further. I also think I probably would have lost my teeth. The cancer had already moved into my neck, I daren't think how much worse it might have become. Don't ever ignore a toothache, regardless of how small it is, you never know what's hiding behind it."

Edd started chemotherapy on December 8 2025 and currently has two out of six rounds left before he finds out if the treatment has worked. Edd lives with his wife Mandy Vieira, 44, who says Edd has always been a 'picture of fine health', which made his recent diagnosis even more shocking.

Mandy, who works in procurement for a housing association, said: "I was just in shock, I was crying, I was just in tears and Edd was really positive so he kind of just took everything in his stride and he was like 'ok we will deal with this' we were both in shock. "He is always a picture of fine health so that was even more of a shock, he's never had anything wrong, never had toothache, he's always got really strong teeth so it's just really weird to come out of nowhere.

"We thought it was just a toothache, maybe a root had gone or a tooth pulled or something, something standard like that. They say that with the type that he's got it's a view to cure with the chemotherapy so they're hopeful that after chemo is done or if radiotherapy is needed then he would be in remission and are hopeful it shouldn't come back but in some cases, it can come back."

Mandy has set up a GoFundMe to help with her and Edd's finances whilst he is off work having treatment. On the Go Fund Me post Mandy said: "He has pushed himself on days when he feels absolutely awful, in pain, nauseous, breathless and exhausted. But there have also been many days where he has had no choice but to rest.

"Alongside this are frequent hospital appointments, which also mean days without income. The stress of managing our mortgage, bills and everyday costs during this time has become overwhelming, at a point when our focus should simply be on recovery."