kick someone in the teeth
informal Cause someone a grave setback or disappointment: there are times when life kicks you in the teeth...- You think you're going in the right direction and then a performance like that really kicks you in the teeth so all the lads were very disappointed and so were the staff.
- Jamie Johnstone said staff felt like they had been kicked in the teeth after all their hard work building up the business.
- Scotland have an uncanny knack of finding heartbreaking ways of exiting tournaments, of getting the nation's hopes up before kicking them in the teeth.
See parent entry: kick