Woman with crooked 'shark' teeth finally gets her perfect smile – Metro.co.uk
NEWS… BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
A woman who said her crooked teeth made her look like a ‘shark’ has finally got her dream smile.
Jennifer Markey had suffered from severe dental problems since childhood, resulting in dental crowding, a crooked jaw and her palate not expanding properly.
The 51-year-old was offered jaw surgery when she was 14 but didn’t want to go through with it at the time.
But as a result, by the time she reached adulthood, her palate measured just 19mm compared to the average 38-41mm.
In 2021, Jennifer decided to go for double jaw expansion surgery – which involves the placement of a device known as a palatal expander, which gradually widens the upper and lower jaw.
The successful surgery resulted in her top and bottom jaw extending by 10mm and 5mm.
In January, Jennifer went in for a double jaw advancement surgery – which moves the upper and lower jaws forward about 10 mm.
Jennifer, a preschool teacher, from Minneapolis, Minnesota, currently wears braces and says she is often told she looks like a ‘different person’ after the surgery.
She said: ‘It was never cosmetic for me.
‘I was fine with the way I looked, I had accepted that my teeth looked the way they did.
‘I always wanted straight teeth but never knew I was going to get them.
‘Now I look at my face and think “wow that looks really different”.
Metro’s on Whatsapp! Join our community for breaking news and juicy stories.
‘It is hard to get used to a different face in the mirror.’
Jennifer said she would breathe through her mouth due to her tongue tie which resulted in her palate not expanding.
She said: ‘I had a very small palate, it was just 19mm – I ended up with a cross bite.
‘I had teeth growing behind my front teeth, it was like I had a second ro2 of teeth – I looked like a shark.’
In June 2021, Jennifer decided to go for a double jaw expansion surgery to extend her mouth which helps straighten the teeth.
‘They cut my top jaw away from the rest of my skull,’ she added.
‘After the surgery, I had to expand my own face at home.
‘Twice a day I had to put a little wire key in the expander and turn it.
‘It felt really strange, the lower jaw was expanded by 5mm and the top jaw was expanded by 10mm.’
Jennifer then received braces to straighten her teeth in October 2021, before later going for double jaw advancement surgery in January 2024.
She said: ‘Again, they cut the top jaw from my skull and pulled everything forward.
‘Due to the way that I breathed, instead of my face growing outwards, it grew down and flat.’
After the two major surgeries, Jennifer said she gets told she looks like a ‘different person’ and said her family has been ‘incredibly’ supportive.
Remote UK island now has more Easter eggs than people thanks to shop’s mistake
Man plummeted to death from hot air balloon after chatting politics with pilot
We’re not so sure this man’s bruise of Prince Harry isn’t a ruse
Woman loves train station so much she legally names herself after it
She said: ‘Some people will tell me they don’t notice a difference but when I show them the before and after pictures they’re like wow.
‘I do have a lot of co-workers that say I look like a completely different person.
‘I look in the mirror and know that this is what I am going to look like forever.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
MORE : We’re not so sure this man’s bruise of Prince Harry isn’t a ruse
MORE : How a quiet fishing lake became a ‘swirling vortex of doom’
MORE : UK UFO hotspot home to 70 years of strange sightings – and it’s not where you’d expect
Privacy Policy
Get us in your feed
