A student was horrified when a ‘jawbreaker‘ candy lived up to its name and snapped her jaw in two.
Javeria Wasim and her friend bought three-inch jawbreaker candies while shopping last month, and after becoming ‘impatient’ to reach the gumball, the 19-year-old attempted to bite into the treat.
As soon as she bit down, Javeria’s jaw began to hurt and a friend pointed out her front tooth was chipped and another was wiggly.
The duo called an ambulance to take Javeria to the hospital, where an X-ray and CT scan found she suffered two fractures in her jaw.
The ‘wiggly’ tooth spotted by Javeria’s friend became loose because it was on top of the bone which split.
Javeria could not open her mouth but had no idea she had fractured her jaw until she was sent into surgery the next day.
After the one-hour procedure, her jaw was put back into place and a bar was inserted on her top and bottom gums, wiring it shut for the next six weeks.
She admits the incident ‘traumatised’ her enough to avoid the candy for life.
Javeria said: ‘I used to have them as a little kid, I’ve seen videos of people biting into the small ones but I’d never seen anyone bite into the big ones.
‘I bit into it and only made a hole and my jaw started to hurt. My friend looked over and said my tooth was chipped. It hurt bad, I was crying a lot when the ambulance came and everything was blurry.’
Javeria’s ‘wiggly’ bottom tooth is now sideways and she said she will need braces to fix her bottom teeth, as well as her front teeth that have ‘separated’.
The student has been on an all-liquid diet consisting of shakes and soups and said all she can think about is having food again when her jaw is unwired.
Javeria said she has struggled with the liquid diet and with the side effects of the surgery, all while she has been studying for her exams.
She said the fracture has made her realise how important her mouth is – ‘you use it for literally everything in your life.’
The student has now urged others to only lick the candy, even if it takes weeks.
‘It was such a stupid thing, people break their jaws in car accidents and fights, this was such an avoidable way to break your jaw,’ she said.
‘It’s better to take the six weeks to get through to it than having six weeks suffering the consequences of biting it and having your jaw wired shut.’
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