TikTok star looks like “cartoon character” as top jaw is 8mm too small until successful surgery which leaves her re-learning to “speak and kiss”
A TikTok star who looked like a “cartoon character” because her top jaw was 8mm too small and impaired her breathing and eating is “learning to speak and kiss again” after successful jaw surgery which she documented for her online followers.
Struggling with crippling self-esteem issues because of her grade three jaw deformity, Kayley Winterson, 25, says food fell out of her mouth and she could barely breathe through her nose because the gap between her top and bottom jaw was so significant.
Bullied at school as, despite wearing braces, her lower teeth jutted out so noticeably, finally, in April 2022, she had a three hour operation to successfully re-position her top jaw.
Five weeks on, she is sharing her new look and her plans to tie-the-knot with the love of her life – trainee emergency medical technician (EMT), Rebecca, 27- with her 19,400 followers on TikTok, where her content makes her a living.
Kayley, who lives with her fiancée in Suffolk, said: “Rebecca has been there for me through everything and now I get to marry her with my new jaw, feeling authentically me.”
From a young age, Kayley knew that she would one day need surgery to correct her jaw – an operation that could not be performed until she was an adult and had finished growing.
She said: “I grew up being told my face was wrong and it would need fixing.
“I didn’t really understand, but I would just tell people I had a ‘mouth syndrome.'”
But it was not just her appearance that was affected by the 8mm gap between her top and bottom jaw. Her ability to eat and breathe were also impaired.
She said: “I couldn’t eat certain food, like a lot of meat, because I couldn’t grind where my molars didn’t meet.
“I would be so embarrassed at friends’ dinner tables, because I would be chewing and chewing and I’d have to spit the beef into a napkin.
“I started to wonder why I was so different to everyone else.”
Unable to grow any adult pre-molars, at the age of eight, Kayley had surgery under general anaesthetic to remove eight baby teeth – leaving her with four major gaps.
This was the first of many issues she had with her teeth during her early childhood and teens.
She said: “Because of the huge overbite, my teeth started to compensate for not being able to eat properly and began spreading out.”
She added: “My teeth, basically, moved up and out 8mm to try and create some form of bite.”
“I was bullied continuously. I was called ‘buck teeth’ every day and the other kids at school would say anything they could about my teeth that was hurtful.
“It destroyed my self-esteem as a young adult, too, because not only had I grown up with people calling me ugly, but I knew that the reason my teeth were the way they were was because of a biological difference, which meant I didn’t feel normal.”
Having her first brace fitted when she was 12, it signalled the start of a decade of dental appointments and check-ups every four to six weeks, as she was prepared for surgery some time after puberty.
She said: “Within one month of having my first brace all the gaps in my teeth had closed and they were straight. It was amazing really.”
Sadly, her 8mm overbite was still there – continuing to affect Kayley’s daily life.
She said: “I would avoid eating out at all costs and if I did, I always kept my hand in front of my mouth.
“Biting into a burger, I would end up taking the contents out of it and it would fall apart and out of the sides of my mouth, because my jaw was so much bigger than it should be.
“I felt like this over-exaggerated cartoon character at the dinner table, chewing on my food.”
Only now that her top jaw has been corrected has Kayley realised how seriously her breathing was affected by her overbite.
She said: “I was never able to take a deep breath through my nose. I would only breathe through my mouth.
“I also had jaw pain constantly. By the end of the day, my jaw would always start to feel sore.”
Kayley’s insecurities also made dating a no go, until she met her fiancée through friends in 2016.
She said: “I wouldn’t dare go on a date or eat in front of someone. It was just way too stressful for me.
“The way I kissed people was different too, because my top jaw was so small and my bottom jaw so far forwards. I was always so conscious of it.”
She added: “People would often assume I was underage because of my braces, as well, which was so frustrating.
“I just saw myself as this alien because I couldn’t see myself as pretty.
“When I met Rebecca, we just hit it off and she taught me to realise that there is beauty in everything and everyone.”
On the waiting list for an operation since she turned 18, Kayley was finally booked in for an appointment with a surgeon at the beginning of this year and given the go-ahead for April.
She said: “I always knew it was going to happen, but it did not felt real until then.
“I kept telling myself, ‘It will be fine and there are people going through worse,’ but I was definitely scared. My face was going to change and that is what everyone sees.”
Luckily, initial plans to perform double jaw surgery, because her bottom jaw protrudes by 2mm, were changed.
Instead, Kayley was told she could have just the top jaw operated on – reducing her recovery time by half.
During the three-hour operation, surgeons drilled underneath her eye sockets to detach her upper jaw and move it forwards, to the correct place, before securing it with titanium plates and screws.
Amazingly, left with no scars, the operation was a success.
She said: “I was out of it when I came to in my hospital bed, because of all the medication, and was wearing an ice-pack face mask to stop the swelling.
“I felt very emotional and overwhelmed. The first week of recovery was really hard with the swelling and not being able to eat.”
As the weeks have passed, Kayley’s swelling has reduced and she is finally appreciating her ‘new face’.
She said: “My brain has only seen myself one way for 25 years and now it’s very, very different.
“But the swelling dropped after 21 days and it was amazing.”
She added: “All the little things I used to worry about in photos are gone.
“I don’t see myself as that person anymore.
“I already feel so much more confident and ready to tackle the world.”
Kayley has also noticed a dramatic difference in her breathing and speech.
She said: “I feel like I’m not tripping up on my words as much as I was.
“Because I couldn’t breathe through my nose before, I would have to stop to breathe when I was talking and feel out of breath.”
She added: “Now I am more fluent and I can express myself more.”
Her new face has also given her the confidence to become a full-time content creator on TikTok.
She said: “I used to need a full face make up just to put my camera on to speak, because I was really embarrassed and I wasn’t being my true authentic self.”
Kayley added: “I used to contour my jaw and try and make it appear like it was further back.
“But I don’t feel the need to do that anymore. I just pick up my camera and do what I have always wanted to do.”
As well as adjusting to her new reflection in the mirror, Kayley is learning how to kiss again.
She laughed: “Rebecca loves my new face too, she says I’m going to be beautiful.
“But because my lip is still numb, I’ve been kissing her on the right hand side, where the feeling has come back, which is very odd.
“I am learning to kiss her again.”
Now Kayley and Rebecca are planning their wedding, which was initially delayed by the pandemic.
Kayley said: “We got engaged in February 2020 and were supposed to marry in August 2020.
“We had both proposed to each other at the same time by accident. We both had rings and tried to ask each other at the same time – it was amazing, like a fairy-tale.”
Kayley added: “The wedding was delayed because of Covid, but now I get to marry with my new jaw and I feel so excited.
“We want to elope somewhere to marry in a really intimate ceremony. Rebecca’s nan is going to make both our dresses by hand.
“We haven’t finalised the details yet, but I am so excited to get married with my new face.”
Meanwhile, she is continuing to document her jaw surgery journey for her followers on TikTok.
She said: “I really want to show people how much this has improved my quality of life.
“Surgery like this can be scary, as it alters your appearance and it’s hard to know what it will look like, so I want other people in a similar position to see how positive the outcome can be.”
https://www.tiktok.com/@kayleylaurenoffical?lang=en
