opening mouth after the wiring comes off

[Guest guest]

I had my surgery on june 2nd - just about 3 weeks ago. I had my

lower jaw reduced and upper jaw moved forward to fix an underbite.

My teeth were wired together and I've become rather accustomed to

not opening my mouth. I get my wires off on july 14th and i was

wondering what to expect when the wires come off. Would i be able to

open my mouth fully, or would i be unable to open my mouth all the

way? I had planned on going out for lobster/shrimp dinner with my

significant other and i was wondering whether i would actually be

able to eat something with the semi-soft texture of shrimp. I heard

i might feel a bit tight around the mouth as i wouldnt have opened

it in 6 weeks, but what does that mean? Some of you have posted that

you have problems opening your mouth more than a thumb's width, is

that normal? or will i be able to open my mouth a decent amount?

I would appreciate the assistance of any of you who have had a

similar surgery.

Thanks in advance

[Guest guest]

I can't answer this from a wired perspective, but I can from

experience being banded for 6 weeks after upper/lower/genio. After

the first week, I was allowed to remove the bands for

eating/cleaning. As I progressed, I left them off for longer periods

in the evening and tried to do simple stretching exercises without

force.

In the beginning, all I could fit in was a baby finger. This

progressed over time to a bit more than a regular finger, then 2

fingers, then finally 3.

It felt as though I was opening a door against a brick wall. It would

open to a point, then no amount of stretching would open it further.

I was able to eventually get to about 2 fingers over time, then my

ortho gave me some resistance exercises (at 3 months post-op)

saying " use it or lose it " . I didn't do a lot of them but they did

help.

You don't want to force things, and you should definitely get

clearance from your surgeon for any resistance exercises. The bone is

not fully healed for 6-8 weeks. I prefer caution.

Be prepared to be breaking the lobster & shrimp into a lot of little

pieces, and that you may not have any muscle strength to bite into

anything solid for awhile.

Hope that helps,

> I had my surgery on june 2nd - just about 3 weeks ago. I had my

> lower jaw reduced and upper jaw moved forward to fix an underbite.

> My teeth were wired together and I've become rather accustomed to

> not opening my mouth. I get my wires off on july 14th and i was

> wondering what to expect when the wires come off. Would i be able

to

> open my mouth fully, or would i be unable to open my mouth all the

> way? I had planned on going out for lobster/shrimp dinner with my

> significant other and i was wondering whether i would actually be

> able to eat something with the semi-soft texture of shrimp. I heard

> i might feel a bit tight around the mouth as i wouldnt have opened

> it in 6 weeks, but what does that mean? Some of you have posted

that

> you have problems opening your mouth more than a thumb's width, is

> that normal? or will i be able to open my mouth a decent amount?

>

> I would appreciate the assistance of any of you who have had a

> similar surgery.

>

> Thanks in advance