Kiwi woman whose front teeth were 17mm apart stuns TikTok with smile transformation

A New Zealand woman born with an agonising underbite that made it difficult to eat has stunned TikTok followers with her smile transformation.

Kirsten Rendell, 20, was born with a narrow palate and a large underbite that gave her a lisp and made it difficult to eat.

She underwent a painful jaw expansion process where she had to manually twist a metal expander, and also forced her two front teeth apart.

"I've never liked smiling, never used to smile with my teeth," the Christchurch woman said.

"The surgery means everything to me, for as long as I can remember I've always wanted nice teeth."

Kirsten Rendell, 20, was born with a narrow palate and a large underbite that gave her a lisp and made it difficult to eat. Photo / Newsflare

Now wearing braces to close the gap, Rendell chose to share her journey with her over 41,000 followers to help other people undergoing a similar life-altering, and scary, surgery know they aren't alone.

"I want people to know that regardless of how they look, it doesn't define who they are and that everyone is beautiful in their own way," she said.

"I'm still very self-conscious but I'm definitely a lot happier now."

The 20-year-old was born with a narrow palate in her upper jaw and as a result, grew up with a large underbite.

She was the victim of cruel bullies at school and became insecure with the way she looked.

"I didn't really know any different, occasionally people would make comments about my jaw," she recalled.

"I learnt to just ignore the bullying as at that age I didn't think anything could be done to fix my jaw, but of course it wasn't great."

The shape of her mouth made speaking difficult and she developed a lisp, and could only ever use her back molars to chew.

As she got older she started to look for ways that she could get her jaw fixed, as she could only have surgery when it was fully grown.

On January 18, she was taken into surgery to have a jaw expander fitted, that she then had to turn twice a day to manually widen her palate.

She did this morning and night for two weeks.

"I found the turns quite painful, feels like pressure behind your nose and cheekbones, but manageable," Rendell said.

"I just kept reminding myself that with each turn I was closer to have a better jaw."