If you look up the phrase ‘Bella Hadid jaw’, you’ll be bombarded with countless articles about the benefits of ‘mewing’ to achieve Bella’s sculpted jawline.
Her angular features are one of the supermodels signature trademarks, with millions of impressionable young women trying their hardest (either through surgery or non-invasive means) to achieve this chiselled appearance themselves.
But, as it turns out, Bella has been secretly suffering with immense jaw pain for over a year, as a result from an infection that was caused by an inflamed tooth.

The 26-year-old model took to TikTok to tell her followers about her recent struggles and how she internalised the pain for almost a year before finally listening to her body and seeking help.
Filming a candid video of herself, complete with an inflamed jaw and all, the Kin Euphorics co-founder penned an extensive caption about her healing process, including how the jaw infection has caused her Lyme symptoms to flare up again.

“There was a low-grade infection underneath the tooth… it continued to spread down causing a low grade infection in my jaw,” the star wrote.
“I have felt in my heart for months that I needed this tooth out, to heal the rest, and if not, it was going to take me out!”
“Please listen to your bodies my friends please!!!” Bella explained before adding that her Lyme disease, which she was diagnosed with in 2012, has been triggered.
Since the infection, which was caused by a root canal treatment from 2022, Bella has felt immense pain in her tooth, jaw, brain, spine, bones and “the entire nervous system”.
“Any minor trauma to the body whether it’s physically or mentally can cause Lyme to flare up,” she added.
“My jaw has been so inflamed, and would flare up/inflame randomly when I was/am overly stressed or over working. Some days it’s okay! And some days are difficult. But when my jaw/nerves started to hurt on an aggressive level; it just went 0-100.”
Bella also touched on how distraught internalising her pain left her, revealing that it left her body hating her.
The model wrote she was in the “foetal position every night in painful hysterics”, would cry on the shower floor before gaining the “courage/strength” to get to work”, often cried on set everyday and suffered from chronic social anxiety.
“I’m going batshit emotionally, no slay.”

Bella hasn’t been one to shy away from sharing her health struggles, whether these be physical like her Lyme disease, or emotional, like her battles with anxiety and depression that left being a “spiral queen” and resulted in her going sober.
However, Bella’s most recent health scare is a fierce reminder that we don’t (and can’t) know the full extent of what someone is grappling with.
She may be one of the most watched faces of our generation, but it’s not always glitz and glam.
So often, we internalise pain in favour of presenting a shiny exterior to the world, but as Bella is proving, it’s ok to get vulnerable and open up about your struggles.
But most of all, when we are in pain it’s paramount to listen to your body.

Source: elle.com.au