A horrified student discovered how ‘jawbreaker’ candy got its name after a bite of the confectionary caused her to snap her jaw in two places.
The ‘giant’ three-inch diameter sweet, similar to a British gobstopper, also left Javeria Wasim with her jaw wired shut and on a liquid diet.
Javeria and her friend decided to buy jawbreakers while out shopping in Toronto last month.
The 19-year-old then says she had the ‘dumb idea’ to try and bite through the hard candy in order to reach the yummy gumball centre of the treat, rather than licking her way through it.
Javeria immediately regretted her decision after her jaw started to hurt and her horrified friend pointed out her front tooth was chipped and another was loose.
The university student was rushed to hospital where she had an X-ray and a CT scan, and was ‘shocked’ to discover that she had suffered two fractures in her jaw.
Doctors reportedly said that Javeria’s tooth was ‘wiggly’ because it was on top of the bone that had ‘split’ in two parts.
The business administration student said that she could not open her mouth but blamed the pain on her broken tooth and had no idea that she could have broken her jaw.
Javeria Wasim (pictured) and her friend decided to buy jawbreakers while out shopping in Toronto last month
The university student was rushed to hospital where she had an X-ray and a CT scan, and was ‘shocked’ to discover that she had suffered two fractures in her jaw
The ‘giant’ three-inch diameter sweet, similar to a British gobstopper, also left Javeria with her jaw wired shut and on a liquid diet
After a one-hour surgery the next day, Javeria’s jaw was put back in place and a bar was inserted in her top and bottom gum, wiring her jaw shut for the next six weeks.
She admits the incident ‘traumatised’ her enough to ‘probably never try a jawbreaker again’.
Javeria said: ‘I was with my friend at the mall and we went into [a shop] to see if they have jawbreakers and we got a giant one, the biggest size they had.
‘I said we have to break it because people lick their way through it and it takes them months to get through it all.
‘We were talking about it and saying, can we bite into this? The candy is literally called a jawbreaker.
‘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 really bad, I was crying a lot when the ambulance came and everything was blurry.
After a one-hour surgery the next day, Javeria’s jaw was put back in place and a bar was inserted in her top and bottom gum, wiring her jaw shut for the next six weeks
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: ‘I can’t eat anything, all I’m having are protein shakes and soups, I lost seven pounds in two weeks.’
‘They told me my jaw is broken and needs to be wired shut.
‘I was shocked, I thought my biggest problem was my broken tooth.
‘I couldn’t open my mouth but I thought it was because of the pain from my tooth.
‘I had to have surgery, they put my jaw back in place and put a bar into my top and bottom gum and wired it shut.’
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 on 23 December.
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: ‘All my bottom teeth are messed up. My two front teeth have a little gap now so I’ll have to get braces to fix them.
‘I can’t eat anything, all I’m having are protein shakes and soups, I lost seven pounds in two weeks.
‘I haven’t eaten in 42 days, I have soup but you’re never full, you’re always hungry.
‘All I can think about is how hungry I am, I took the feeling of being full for granted. I miss food so much.
‘I also feel irritated all the time. I can’t open my mouth, I can’t lick my lip if food gets on it, I can’t use my teeth to open something.
‘You realise how important your mouth is, you use it for literally everything in your life. It has affected my life so much.
Given how badly the incident has affected her, Javeria is now urging others to only lick the candy, even if it takes them weeks to get to the centre. Javeria said: ‘It was a dumb idea I had with my friend. I’m definitely traumatised so I would say I probably wouldn’t have one again’
‘The first week of surgery I was in so much pain, I can’t explain it. I would just lay in bed and take painkillers.
‘I’d sleep because the only time I wasn’t in pain was when I was sleeping.’
Given how badly the incident has affected her, Javeria is now urging others to only lick the candy, even if it takes them weeks to get to the centre.
Javeria said: ‘It was a dumb idea I had with my friend. I’m definitely traumatised so I would say I probably wouldn’t have one again.
‘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.
‘I’d tell people if they want to get in the middle of a jawbreaker, 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.’
