A make-up artist who spent six years 'hiding' her prominent chin after bullies branded her 'shovel face' due to her extreme underbite is now able to smile again thanks to gruelling jaw surgery. Jordan Davies underwent the arduous four-and-a-half operation in which her top and bottom jaws were both broken, realigned and secured in place with metal plates and screws.
The 21-year-old had longed for surgery to correct her severe underbite ever since the age of 15 and spent three years in braces to straighten her teeth before the op. Jordan's bottom jaw sat so far forward that she was told she'd eventually struggle to eat, in addition to school bullies cruelly branding her 'shovel face'.
Jordan would resort to 'holding her jaw back', posing in such a way to make her jutting profile less obvious. After doctors explained her underbite would only worsen and eventually make eating difficult, self-conscious Jordan decided to undergo double jaw surgery in March 2022. Now 10 months on from her surgery, Jordan says she now feels confident enough to flash a toothy smile in public.
Jordan, from Newport, said: "The surgery was always something I wanted done because I was self-conscious. I was nervous, but excited. I'd been waiting a long time for it and I just wanted to get it over and done with.
"As soon as they told me I had an underbite, it was in my head, like, 'oh god, I've got this problem', and then it got worse and worse. I received comments from people all the time. People would call me 'shovel face', which sounds awful, and I would get bullied for it.
"I hid it a lot as well. You can't let yourself go in public, you're always trying to hide it and hold your jaw back. I never fully felt confident in myself because I was always thinking that I couldn't show it [the underbite].
"The comments did affect me, but I wanted to get the surgery done for me as well, because they said it was going to get worse, and that eating would become a bit of a struggle too. It has definitely been a confidence boost. Now I can go out and smile with my teeth, which I've never been able to do before."
Jordan had the surgery done at The Grange University Hospital in Cwmbran, and says that 10 months on, she's finally able to like how she looks in the mirror. The beauty lover claims that the results from the surgery have made her feel like she can 'be herself', and now enjoys socialising with her family and friends.
Jordan said: "At the start I looked really swollen, but now everything is really positive. I look in the mirror and I like what I see. It is me, and it's not. When you've looked at yourself for 21 years and then you look in the mirror [after surgery], it is different. I would definitely recommend this to other women who might feel similar.
"At the start, I felt like this didn't look like me, but I think it is just a process that you've got to go through. People say I look so good for it, and some say I look so much better for it. It's just really nice comments.
"I can just be myself. I felt like I was only holding back before, like I was hiding this insecurity. But now I can go out and I can see my friends now without holding back."
