Holidaymaker gets false teeth back after losing them in a Benidorm bin in 2011

MEN Media
Paul Bishop and his long-missing false teeth Credit: MEN Media

A holidaymaker who lost his false teeth in a bin in Benidorm, has been reunited with them after 11 years.

Paul Bishop, 63 and from Stalybridge, was sick after drinking to celebrate a friend's birthday in the Spanish resort in 2011. His dentures dropped into a bin and vanished.

The holidaymaker spent the rest of the trip to Benidorm without his teeth Credit: PA

"It was my mate's 50th birthday and we'd been out drinking since midday," Paul explained. "It was about 11pm and I'd had nothing to eat all day," adding that he "could feel it coming back up."

He only realised his top set of dentures had fallen out when he got to the next bar and, by then, there was no way to find them.

Paul's top set of false teeth turned-up in a Spanish landfill Credit: MEN Media

Years later, the teeth were discovered in a landfill and researchers at the Spanish National Centre for Biotechnology (CNB) swabbed them for DNA. They found a match and traced Paul's address in the UK.

When a parcel from Spain arrived on his doorstep, Paul initially thought it was some kind of joke: "I couldn't believe it. I was stunned. I've moved address. Someone has gone out of their way to trace me."

A letter from DNA researchers told Paul how they found him Credit: MEN Media

Paul spent £600 on new dentures when he returned home after the trip and the old ones no longer fit. He is thinking about putting them on display at a working men's club he manages.

"They are in perfect condition and look brand new," he said. "Someone has obviously taken the time to scrub them. I'm going to keep them. I might put them in a little glass container."