A Bullet Destroyed a Black Iowa Teen’s Jaw, Here’s How AI Made It Right

An Iowa teenager is celebrating a new beginning after surviving a horrific tragedy – all thanks to the help of a talented medical team and an assist from AI. Back in October of 2025, Mya Buie was shot in the face at close range just days before 17th birthday. The incident allegedly took place during an altercation with her mother’s ex-boyfriend.

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The .40-caliber bullet did significant damage to the teen’s face, shattering her jaw and permanently damaging four of her teeth. Buie’s mother, Jacorra Jones, told the Des Moines CBS affiliate how agonizing it was to see her daughter after the shooting.

“Her whole chin was gone. She was just leaching blood, and I couldn’t help her,” she said.

Thankfully, Buie survived, but she spent days in the ICU, where she underwent two surgeries to reconstruct her jaw. Dr. Simon Wright, who performed her surgery, told WOWT that Buie’s injuries are among the most serious he’s seen in his 23-year career as a trauma surgeon.

Usually, doctors have to mold titanium plates by hand to fit their patients’ faces during a jaw reconstruction procedure, a process that can take a lot of time to get just right.

“Each bend sort of leaves an error in your last bend,” Wright told WOWT. “There’s always a level of dissatisfaction, and it doesn’t feel good to do something just good enough.”

Now, doctors can get help from AI, which can read a patient’s CT scan. The information is then sent to a 3D printer, which can produce a jawbone plate that is the perfect fit for the patient’s face. Wright says that although the technology has been around for a while, AI is now able to make the process faster, cutting the time to create the new jaw plate nearly in half – something he called a “game changer.”

“The ability to custom make a plate has been around for ten years or more, but the ability to do it very quickly has not been,” he said.

Buie says she is proud of how she handled the situation and calls the positive outcome “a miracle.”

“I thank God every day for giving me a second chance at life. I’m very grateful… I can tell this story and spread the word of God, like a testament,” she told WOWT.