"All thanks to the amazing work by the Orthodontic department"

Ever since I was little I was always bullied for the way I looked due to having a severe under bite.

When I first went to the hospital I was at around the age of 14 I was told I was looking at around 6 or so years for me to get the surgery I desperately wanted as my jaw was still growing, as sad as that made me I pushed through the bullying and started treatment with the clinic.

Every single person at Good Hope Hospitals orthodontic department was incredibly nice and treated me very well, the closer I got to the surgery the better I felt about my appearance and my mental health was improving as well.

When I was around 18-19 I had a particularly bad experience on the bus home from college where a group of girls were laughing at and taking pictures of me, after years of similar experiences with bullying this was the straw the broke the camels back and I went home crying it'd gotten to the point where I was scared to go outside. I never interacted with anyone person to person and my mental health was probably at its lowest point and I wanted to just not "exist" anymore.

At this point it would have been another 1-2 years until the surgery was likely to occur and I was seriously depressed, after the episode on the bus I vented my frustrations to the team at the orthodontics department and they were incredibly sympathetic.

Dr Panesar arranged a telephone call with a previous patient who had gone through the same ordeal as me in order to help me connect with other people in my situation. Dr Panesar at this point suggested an experimental treatment that could bring the surgery forward  by a few years and then they would perform the bracework after instead of before surgery.

I immediately was ecstatic to hear that this was a potential possibility and said I wanted it if it was possible, later on  the department had arranged a meeting with the surgeon who would be performing the procedure and he and Dr. P talked me through everything that the surgery entailed and if I was still willing to do it and I proceeded with the surgery, when the day finally came around I was put to sleep and woke up with an entirely new face, needless to say I cried tears of joy that day as everything that had affected me my entire life and kept me up at night was gone, after years of hating myself and my appearance.

It took a while built I was actually able to the thing I heard about my whole life called "Confidence" within a year of the surgery I went from failing classes and sitting at home to getting the highest grades possible, my first Job alongside my studies and a girlfriend.

I've never been so happy in my entire life and it is all thanks to the amazing work performed by the Orthodontics department at Good Hope Hospital and the amazing surgeon Mr Williams. I owe them everything. Thank you, for everything.