A woman who forked out £4,000 on a new set of teeth in Turkey says she is being compared to a horse by online trolls over the size of her pearly whites.
Business owner Kellie Swanton from Hitchin, Hertfordshire, jetted off to Turkey in February for her new gnashers, dipping into her savings for the procedure she had hoped for for years after cruel bullying throughout school.
Over the six days the 27-year-old spent in Turkey, she documented her journey to her new teeth, with her posts on TikTok going viral.
But unkind strangers online have trolled her about her new look, with some even comparing her to a horse.
‘I’ve been told that I look like a horse and that they’re not a good shape and don’t fit in my mouth properly,’ she said.
‘They’ve also said that I should get my money back, that my teeth were going to fall out and that they’re too long, people would make just really unnecessary comments.
‘In the end I just ended up filtering the comments, I feel that if you allow people to comment hate, you allow them the platform to do so, so I just took their opportunity away from them to spread the hate.
‘I have also had a lot of people telling me they liked them and being really positive which is great.’
Kellie has been battling with her teeth since childhood after braces she had fitted failed to correct the problem.
‘My teeth have never been good, it is my family genetics,’ she said. ‘I was subject to bullying at school for so long. I got braces at 12-years-old but they failed.’
The procedure, which took place over the course of three days, involved filing down Kellie’s teeth to make way for ten porcelain crowns on the top and bottom sets of her teeth.
‘I got ten porcelain crowns on the top set of teeth and ten on the bottom set,’ she said. ‘I also had root canals done in Turkey as well in the procedure.
‘Overall it took three days. On the first day, my teeth were filed down and my teeth were prepped ready.
‘I also had root canal work done as well as whitening and scaling done. They then fitted two sets of temporary teeth which were like false clip in teeth that I wore for two days whilst the crowns were being made from the moulds taken.
‘The second trip was then when I had the porcelain crowns fitted and the final trip was just a check up to make sure they were in place correctly.
‘It ended up being more of a holiday than going just for the procedure, it wasn’t as long as I thought it would be.
‘I opted for porcelain crowns rather than veneers, for me this was the better option. My natural teeth were filed down for the crowns to then fit over them.’
Kellie, who is due to get married this year, said she opted for the procedure as she didn’t want to feel the need to hide her teeth on her big day and look back at wedding photographs with regrets.
She decided to document her journey to inform people who may be thinking of doing the same of the process.
‘I’ve been told that I look like a horse and that they’re not a good shape and don’t fit in my mouth properly,’ she said.
‘They’ve also said that I should get my money back, that my teeth were going to fall out and that they’re too long, people would make just really unnecessary comments.
‘In the end I just ended up filtering the comments, I feel that if you allow people to comment hate, you allow them the platform to do so, so I just took their opportunity away from them to spread the hate.
‘I have also had a lot of people telling me they liked them and being really positive which is great.’
Kellie has been battling with her teeth since childhood after braces she had fitted failed to correct the problem.
‘My teeth have never been good, it is my family genetics,’ she said. ‘I was subject to bullying at school for so long. I got braces at 12-years-old but they failed.’
The procedure, which took place over the course of three days, involved filing down Kellie’s teeth to make way for ten porcelain crowns on the top and bottom sets of her teeth.
