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Until recently, 23-year-old Rebecca Kiernan had no idea what a normal life was like. Kiernan was born with a massive overbite that made it difficult for her to chew, and every time she yawned, her jaw would dislocate.
Although Kiernan was born with this problem, it became aggravated and more noticeable because her jawbone failed to grow properly when she was a child.
“Every time that I yawned too widely my jaw would pop out of place,” she explained, “it was really painful and I’d have to put my hand into my mouth to pop it back in place.”
After Kiernan turned 13, her peers began to mock her for her teeth and her speech problems, calling her names like “tig beeth.” Even her closest friends weren’t supportive of her and said that she would be “better” if her teeth were straighter and more normal looking.
So many normal activities – like eating or even meeting new people – became difficult for Kiernan because of her teeth. “When I was trying to chew I was doing it wrong and I suffered from chronic jaw pain,” she said.
And when it came to meeting new people, Kiernan was obsessively worried about how the other person would see her teeth. She would try her best to keep her mouth somewhat covered with her hand to avoid feeling embarrassed.
“I used to get really bad anxiety when I met new people and I would try to cover it up,” she admitted.
Finally, after 23 years of enduring the struggles of her unevenly aligned jaw, Kiernan decided to seek out medical help to have her jaw surgically corrected.
In November 2015, Kiernan underwent the major operation to have her face readjusted. “When you’re messing with your face, it’s a huge thing,” she said. “It’s hard to have to go through it.”
During the procedure, Kiernan’s doctors cut into her jaw and moved the bottom half forward to close an 11-millimeter gap that had formed between her two jaws.
To keep the new jaw alignment in place, doctors surgically inserted four plates and 50 screws into her bone to keep her jaw from moving back to how it had been originally.
For the next 12 weeks, Kiernan didn’t dare look at herself in the mirror. She was told to only subsist on a liquid-based diet to give her jaw a chance to fully heal as the swelling died down.
Kiernan also had to have braces fitted immediately after the operation to keep her teeth in place.
Now, five months after the operation, doctors report that Kiernan is recovering incredibly well.
And as for Kiernan, her self-confidence has shot through the roof. She looks so different now and has gained a ton of confidence because of it.
“I used to hate people taking pictures,” she said. “I feel like now this is what I was supposed to look like.”
Her favorite compliment thus far?
“I got questioned at the airport when I was coming back from my holiday and they were really looking at my passport,” Kiernan recalled. “It made me think I’m going to have to apply for a new passport.”
This is what the 23-year-old woman looks like now.
