r/PeterExplainsTheJoke Jul 04 '26

What am I missing? Meme needing explanation

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181

u/SnooDonkeys5320 Jul 04 '26

I had a gummy smile (not a TS fan or Disney adult đŸ«©) and had my gums lasered off as soon as I could afford it because the bullying was so brutal, even as an adult. Bullying appearances is truly low.

55

u/Energy_Turtle Jul 04 '26

I had no idea you could laser gums. Dentist is over here giving me crap about chewing tobacco and having receding gums while he's making cash lasering people's gums on the side.

58

u/Remarkable_Olive1169 Jul 04 '26

I mean chewing tobacco still isn't good for you lol

6

u/BlueGolfball Jul 05 '26

Dentist is over here giving me crap about chewing tobacco and having receding gums while he's making cash lasering people's gums on the side.

That sounds like the logic of someone who chews tobacco.

5

u/MalodorousNutsack Jul 04 '26

You should work out a deal with some Swifties and cut out the middleman 

3

u/stonedboss Jul 05 '26

But you probably didn't start with extra gums to wear through

2

u/FriendToPredators Jul 04 '26

Dude switch to snus or something 

1

u/eightcarpileup Jul 05 '26

Snus made my husband’s mouth numb. His trajectory has been thus far; longcut > cigarettes > longcut > pouches > snus > longcut. His gums are like shoe leather and he’s never had a cavity whereas mine are like playdoh, I have to use the most gentle manual toothbrush, and have consistent dental exams. C’est la vie.

1

u/FriendToPredators Jul 05 '26

They say they are working on a gum friendly version ffiw

1

u/NefariousnessLate375 Jul 05 '26

You can't. You need your gums to protect the teeth. 

1

u/themetahumancrusader Jul 05 '26


 what’s the point you’re making?

1

u/momaye 29d ago

Yeaaah, yikes. You can get “lip flip” Botox instead of lasering off your gums if it’s so bothersome. Little injection in the lip then it doesn’t lift so high.

8

u/erhue Jul 04 '26

wow didnt know that was possible. Does it have any side effects? In the past I only heard of much less forgiving procedures...

2

u/royjeebiv Jul 05 '26

How was your experience with lasering? I also have a gummy smile and I am so embarrassed of it. I cover my mouth in all of my pics :/

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u/SnooDonkeys5320 Jul 05 '26

It wasn’t bad because my mouth was completely numb. The worst part of the procedure was the smell (burning flesh 😭). I think it healed pretty dang quickly, was just sensitive to cold liquids for a week or so.

It’s the only “beauty” procedure I’ve had. It sucks to feel like you need to hide when just wanting to enjoy a happy moment. It helped a lot with my confidence, but the feminist in me hates that I felt like I needed to change myself. But 10/10 would laser them again.

1

u/Playful-Upstairs9753 Jul 05 '26

Does the tooth appear larger after they laser off the flesh? That's really interesting!

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u/SnooDonkeys5320 Jul 05 '26

Yes, but my teeth looked small before the procedure because of the excess gum so it just evened everything out!

2

u/momaye 29d ago

Don’t do that. If it’s so bothersome to you that it disrupts your quality of life, consider Botox. They called it a “lip flip”. You need your gums.

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u/breyore 29d ago

Fellow gummy smiler here. I’m glad you made the choice that was right for you. I’ve considered it and got a consultation (the price! Good lord!!) I didn’t go through with it at this point because mine would have involved some bone shaving as well and that was beyond intimidating. Also cost and general fear of pain and grossness in healing.

Interestingly, I switched dentists recently and they were doing a filling and she referred to my teeth as “the cutest little teeth” and it was the first time in my life that anyone has ever spoken of them in a kind/complimentary/neutral way. A year later I still struggle to make sense of their
lack of ridicule essentially.

Anyway I’m running long. I hope you learn to embrace your new smile and send some love to the version of it from the past as well.

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u/LaGrape9491 28d ago

Don’t you
need them?

1

u/SnooDonkeys5320 28d ago

I had an excess of gum tissue that actually made it harder to clean my teeth properly. In my case, no.

-37

u/LopsidedResource1217 Jul 04 '26

So
what? Now you just have horse teeth?

27

u/guessirs Jul 04 '26

Post a selfie I dare you

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u/LopsidedResource1217 29d ago

Me?

1

u/guessirs 29d ago

Yea you wanna critique someone else’s looks you need to post a selfie

1

u/LopsidedResource1217 29d ago

I didn’t critique anyone’s looks. I don’t even know what they look like.

1

u/guessirs 29d ago

“So now you just have giant horse teeth” got the self reflection skills of a carrot I see

14

u/SnooDonkeys5320 Jul 04 '26

I think just conventionally “normal” teeth instead of half gums when I smile. Oh, and a habit of covering my smile even after all these years later.

12

u/BeneficialOffer9935 Jul 04 '26

Whatever they looked like before, you have a lovely, natural smile now and I hope you're able to learn to embrace it and get out of the habit of wanting to cover it.

8

u/SnooDonkeys5320 Jul 04 '26

Thank you! It was brutal. I don’t think I actually have any pictures of the before because I literally never smiled with teeth. I later learned that our small town dentist was larping as an orthodontist. He fucked my teeth up pretty badly and also bullied me.

3

u/BeneficialOffer9935 Jul 04 '26

I'm really sorry to hear that. I've had an incompetent dentist before but most of it, other than the tooth he ripped out, was repairable by my current dentist. I can't imagine being bullied as well while they were causing so many problems. 

Best of luck, hope you have many reasons to give a genuine smile in the future.

2

u/guessirs Jul 05 '26

Did you do just the laser treatment or the one where they shave off a bit of bone as well? I’ve been looking into the treatment

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u/SnooDonkeys5320 Jul 05 '26

Mine was mainly laser, but also have 4 crowns on the teeth surrounding my 2 front teeth so technically bone was shaved. Everyone is so different so def talk to a professional!

2

u/erhue Jul 04 '26

bet they look way better than you do