EastEnders’ Sid Owen unveils aftermath of accident which SHATTERED his jaw and knocked out SIX teeth

Sid Owen has undergone emergency surgery on his jaw after a golf ball thwacked him in the face, shattering his jaw and knocking out six of his teeth in the process.

In gory pictures taken following the freak accident on January 17, the former EastEnders actor, 48, unveiled the gruesome aftermath, with huge gaps on one side of his mouth where teeth are now missing.

Sid – who is disallowed to fly home from Thailand while awaiting brain scan results and further surgery – admitted that he is ‘struggling to sleep’ and feels ‘depressed and isolated’ as he remains stranded abroad, racking up huge bills in the process. 

The actor showed the immediate trauma caused by the impact of the golf ball flying into his face, with his teeth pushed painfully into his bloodied mouth.

Sid pictured every stage of his recovery, with a bone graft and multiple surgeries to remove the teeth embedded in his jaw. 

The golf accident – reported by The Sun – took place during a detox trip to Thailand, where doctors told Sid that he is lucky to be alive.

The soap star said: ‘I’ve almost been lucky because they’ve told me if it had hit me two inches higher up I’d probably be dead from that sort of impact. I was stood about ten feet away when it hit me, hard, and of course it hurt like hell, but it was the shock factor too.’

The incident happened during a game of golf when a ball hit a nearby tree, ricocheted off and hit him at close range at the Siam Country Club Old Course near Bangkok.

Recalling the gruesome details, Sid said: ‘I remember seeing two teeth fly straight out of my mouth but it turned out to be a fracture in my face and a broken jaw, along with another tooth embedded into my jaw.

‘I had to have a bone graft, followed by several rounds of dental surgery because it was too much damage to try to treat it all at once.’

The treatment is said to have taken 15 hours so far and Sid is now on strong painkillers.

There’s been further ramifications from the accident; Sid’s visa has expired and is staying on an emergency extension.

If the surgery can’t be completed in time, he will need to fly home to the UK to have the work completed on his damaged jaw.

He has described the past five weeks as ‘hell’ and has insisted that the experience has ‘changed’ him.

The soap star – who played Ricky Butcher on EastEnders from 1988 until 2012 – has had to skip auditions he had set up for February while stranded across the planet.

Having to extend his stay has also cost Sid money on accommodation and the ordeal is not guaranteed to be covered by travel insurance.

The worry has also caused him to drop nearly two stone – partly also down to his inability to eat, thanks to his damaged mouth.

Adding to his woes is the fact that he is not covered should he contract the coronavirus, which is sweeping the globe, which originated in Wuhan, China – which is 1,450 miles from Bangkok. 

Sid’s ex-EastEnders co-star Patsy Palmer was announced to be returning to the stalwart BBC soap in the coming months – with many believing Sid’s character Ricky would be set to reappear too.

This has not been confirmed – but the situation with Sid’s jaw could jeopardise this.

MailOnline has contacted Sid’s rep for comment.