Recovery Tips
Following is a summary of the most important things I learned during my recovery from double jaw surgery.
- Drink lots of prune juice and water. Your toilet time will be far from enjoyable for the first couple of weeks because you’re likely to be severely dehydrated. The prune juice will provide your body with the fiber it needs to work those bowels properly, but fiber is useless without water because it won’t dissolve in your body. I recommend a bare minimum of 1 L of water per day. Drink 2 L per day as soon as you can.
- Before you attempt to pull any dead skin off of your lips, be absolutely certain that it’s not a stitch. I learned this the hard way.
- Start using medicated lip balm immediately following your return to your own home. If you don’t, you’ll end up with flaps of dead skin that are half an inch in diameter, and I promise you they won’t feel good when they catch on your braces.
- Apply heat to your face 3-4 times per day for the first 5-6 weeks to help with the swelling. The heat will also help you fall asleep.
- Begin each day at a decent time. If you sleep most of the day, you won’t be able to sleep at night, and you’ll hate yourself for it. Get out of bed, shower, eat some breakfast and brush your teeth and you’ll enjoy each day a lot more. (This is good advice for any day of your life, but it especially applies when you’re on the verge of depression from having jaw surgery.)
- Go to bed on time. Yawning will cause you quite a bit of pain, so prevent it by getting the right amount of sleep during the proper hours.
- As soon as you’re able to talk clearly enough for friends and family to understand you, call people and be social. Go outside and enjoy nature. Whatever you do, ensure you don’t fall into a trap of loneliness and self-pity.
- Start drinking from a cup as soon as you’re physically able to. Your upwards trek back to having full energy begins the day you can throw your syringes in the garbage.
- Eat solid food as soon as your surgeon gives you the go-ahead. It’ll be a slow, tedious and frustrating process, but you need to go through with it in order to build your jaw muscles back up and learn how to chew properly once again.
- It may take some time to get used to your new smile and your newly structured face. Don’t be ashamed of yourself. You don’t look funny at all. You’re simply not used to looking like you’re supposed to.
- And lastly, don’t worry about your looks, bite or facial feeling for at least 6 months. You may have an open bite, but you’ll wake up one morning and your teeth will have migrated back together. You may be completely numb, but feeling will return almost overnight.
If you have any questions about the recovery process, or perhaps have other pointers to share with upcoming jaw surgery patients, feel free to jot them down in the comments.
August 8, 2011 at 10:37 pm
Hey Graham,
I saw that your still answering these posts. Well, its been 12 days post surgery and some of my face is still numb. You seem to know much about this from your own experience as well as other people’s experience. How much longer do you think it will take until my numbness and swelling goes away completely?
Im freaking out because I thought it would only take about a week and now I’m thinking it will take more than a month >.<
Thanks, Alexa
August 5, 2011 at 8:33 am
Hi Richard,
What you’re experiencing is entirely normal. We all went through the exact same week of fear where we thought we were left with a noticeable overbite.
Once your swelling dies down a little more, you’ll begin to accept the new shape of your face and you’ll start to love your smile. I assure you it’s just the swelling that is throwing you off right now.
Inflammation hangs around for upwards of the full three months, so don’t judge yourself too harshly until you hit that point.
August 5, 2011 at 1:55 am
baby spoons and sippy cups – god’s gift to jaw surgery patients!
August 5, 2011 at 1:23 am
Hi Graham,
It’s been nearly 2 weeks since my operation. I haven’t really been having many problems actually, my only concern is about the way I now look. Before the surgery I did have a noticeable underbite, but it didn’t look too bad and I was comfortable about the way that I looked. I’ve been comparing my side profile with yours when you were around this far post-op and you look fairly normal (albeit still swollen) whereas I look as though I now have a prominent overbite and my lower jaw has sunken in. I had double jaw surgery also, but I didn’t get my chin done because my surgeon didn’t think that it was necessary. I’m hoping that I’m still just very swollen around my upper jaw and that when it all goes down I’ll look normal, but I’m still really concerned and I go back to work on Monday . Anyway, I’m just wondering if you went through anything like this? Where you ever concerned with the way you looked?
August 4, 2011 at 9:38 pm
Brande, you’re not the first to fall in love with baby spoons! I wish I would have known about them when I was recovering! If they work wonders, keep on using them. We won’t tell anyone. 😛
August 4, 2011 at 9:37 pm
Emily, other people will say you look different, but you’ll probably see yourself the same when you look in a mirror. The shape of your face will change, but your features and color will remain the same.
The main difference is that you’ll smile a lot more!
August 4, 2011 at 8:38 pm
Don’t think I’ve shared this little gem I discovered. Baby spoons! Gerber makes some where the tips are covered in plastic, they’re small and with the plastic coating it doesn’t feel bad against teeth. I used them to spoon applesauce, yogurt, and pudding into my mouth. Worked wonderfully!
August 4, 2011 at 8:30 pm
Thanks for all the recovery tips and suggestions on liquid stuff to eat, or drink. My big day is August 17, getting a little nervous, excited though too. My boyfriend just asked me if I’ll look different, said he hopes I don’t. Kinda made me sad but seeing all you guys who’ve gone through this helps. I know I’ll be better off afterwards. Will keep reading everyone else’s stories and experiences. Thanks!
August 1, 2011 at 2:57 pm
Brande, thanks for taking care of Denise’s questions. You have more experience in that area that I do! =)
August 1, 2011 at 2:56 pm
Patty, experiencing numbness at 10 weeks is very normal. Your mouth and lips will be fairly sensitive for a little while yet.
As for biting your lips, you’ll learn to avoid that pitfall as well. I bit my lips, tongue and even my cheeks quite often when I first started eating again, but it only took a couple of weeks before I could eat normally and didn’t have to think about such things any longer.
Everything you’re experiencing is expected. You’re going to come out of this smiling!
August 1, 2011 at 2:41 pm
I am 10 weeks after surgery and notice my gums are extremely sensative. The roof of my mouth feels like I just ate captain crunch all the time. I’m hopeing this is normal maybe feeling coming back that I didn’t have? I only brush once daily but floss several times a day as I always have. Still no feeling in my chin and I still bite my lips when I eat. I hate my new habit of chewing with my mouth open so i don’t bite myself.
July 31, 2011 at 12:47 pm
Hi Denise, I just had my upper jaw done on the 11th, so about 3 weeks post op. I am allergic to most antibiotics so I know what that’s like. But it may be the pain medications. I was itchy like crazy the first few days, my face felt so incredibly uncomfortable (even more than I expected) and was constantly scratching my arms and chest. I spoke to my surgeon and that is a common reaction to some narcotic pain meds. I chose to tough it out and after a week my itching sub-sided, or I just got used to it. If you still think it is the antibiotic by all means talk to the doctor as soon as possible. Some antibiotics can just make your stomach upset while other reactions (like mine) are anaphylaxis (can’t breathe) which is life or death. Day 3 to 6 were the worst for me, I didn’t have anything done to my sinuses but definitely talk to the doctor about your concerns – ASAP.
July 31, 2011 at 10:35 am
My son had upper jaw only with a sinus lift, also bone morphological protien was used to grow bone in several areas where needed, He is on day 3 and is so miserable. He has had generalized itching and we are now on our third antibiotic to hopefully fix that. Although he has never had a reaction to antibiotics before which concerns me. The swelling is supposed to be worse several days later because of the Bone protien. Two things are worrying me. First the itching could he be allergic to something else besides the antibiotic? Two he feels a vibration in his cheek when he talks could this be air that has gotten between the cheek and sinus? Anyone have similar procedure and issues?
July 30, 2011 at 4:35 am
I’ve been fighting migraines for a LONG time and I’m really hoping that this is going to be help, if not a solution. Thanks for writing me back to me so quickly! I’m hoping for all the support I can get 🙂 It aggravates me to no end that my mom has perfect teeth! Ah! So frustrating.
And the baby tooth is very interesting. Everytime I see a dentist/orthodontist/oral surgeon I get the same response when they look at my teeth. They all say ‘hm…that’s interesting’. I’m not sure if that’s really a good sign…
July 29, 2011 at 10:56 pm
Hey Tiffany!
First off, I can’t believe you still had a baby tooth at 22 years old! Your teeth definitely have a fight in them!
I’m excited that you’re able to have this done. Hopefully it leaves you with the working bite you’re looking for.
Let us know when you have a surgery date!
July 29, 2011 at 4:54 pm
Hey everyone!
I’m so glad that I found this website because as scary as it is to me to have jaw surgery, what’s more scary is to be going through it alone. I’ve just started my journey through all of this when my teeth began hurting (like the pain you get with cavities, but I don’t have any cavities). I figured I needed braces for sure, but when the word surgery was brought up I was ready to start running. And of course, Invisalign is not an option. I know this sounds superficial of me to say, but I’m only 22 and appearances matter to me. I’m in my last few years of college and am wondering if winter break is really enough time to have this done and healed.
My mouth story is a little strange. On Tuesday I had a baby tooth pulled (yes, I had a baby tooth still hanging in there at age 22). Now, there is a permanent tooth under it, and it is yet to be seen whether or not it will come up, but I will be keeping my fingers crossed. What’s more of the problem is my bite. My jaw is off center and while my teeth are (mostly) straight, I have a slight underbite and almost nothing touches on the right side. I know that there’s probably a better dental term for that. So I will need the corrective jaw surgery and braces. I’m worried that I’ll have to be wired shut for 6 weeks.
Anyway, I once the hole in my mouth heals completely in 3 weeks my oral surgeon will do the full workup for jaw surgery/braces. And while I don’t believe in god, I do hope that any of you who dread through this entirely long entry can send out a few good thoughts into the universe for a 22 who is scared out of her mind 🙂
And again…sorry it’s so long <3
July 29, 2011 at 11:17 am
http://www.youtube.com/jawsurgeryupdate
Thanks Graham…you rule!
July 28, 2011 at 11:33 pm
Kevin, that’s great news that you only had to have one jaw operated on! Glad you found a way to make your headache go away as well.
I see you’re planning on posting YouTube videos as you recover. I’m looking forward to watching these.
Stay cheerful, pal!
July 28, 2011 at 11:09 pm
Fionn, I’m glad you’re excited for the operation in a few weeks! You’ll likely have to forego most conversation for your first few weeks back at school, but you’ll be back to speaking and living a relatively normal life by October. It’ll be an exercise in humility!
Keep us posted following your surgery and let us know how you’re doing!
July 28, 2011 at 10:59 pm
Hey guys,
So i had my surgery yesterday. spent over 24 hours in the hospital after the fact. My surgery was nearly 4 hours long. What has been amazing is that I was expecting to have lower and upper jaw surgery, as well as a genioplasty. Once they started on me with the upper jaw, that’s all they ended up having to do! Apparently everything fell into place so well that they didn’t need to touch anything else! this really pleased me because of my fear of numbness for the rest of my life from the sensitive nerve in the lower jaw.
As far as pain goes, there is a lot but the morphine at the hospital was very helpful, as well as the liquid vikadin i’ve had since i’ve been home. What has been really frustrating is this massively awful headache i’ve had the entire time which i was counteracting with a cold napkin until now i jus started sudafed! what a DIFFERENCe! headache gone.
having my teeth touch eachother in such an even fashion has been unbelievable weird. even though they are wired shut everything is in line perfectly from what i can tell. I am so happy with the results, even though it’s only day 2. I am not as swollen as expected, which is probably due to having only the upper jaw done as i explained above. For anyone only getting upper jaw surgery, expect your top lip to be very numb, as well as your cheeks all the way up to your eyes. i have full feeling in my lower jaw and about 80% in my lower lip.
OH yeah, i’ve been extremely sensitive to loud noises and anything that stimulates the senses as well, which sounds normal for any surgery i’m guessing.
Thanks guys!
Kevin