So I'm in the middle of some pretty extreme dental work in preparation for a jaw surgery that I'll be having hopefully sometime next year. Got 4 premolars pulled, and my braces are currently closing the gaps. In the meantime, I look kind of like a pirate when I smile.

I have this mentality that there's not really any point in trying to attract a girl while all of this is going on, and that I should just focus on other things until after my jaw surgery and when the braces come off, because my face will look a lot more handsome then.

But sometimes I see a girl I'm interested in and I want to get to know her, but there's this nagging "don't even bother, you look kind of freaky right now, no one's going to be attracted to you and that's understandable" mentality. In reality, how much of a handicap is it really, do you think?