Sam's lower jaw and chin

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

Had my consult with OS today. Surgery is on 28 October. He confirmed that

they will have to bring my lower jaw forward about 11mm, and that they will

have to move it sideways a bit so that my lower jaw is centred. He will

also do some kind of thing with my chin so that it won't look so

lopsided. I could kind of see his point when I tried to hold my jaw into

post-op position.

He says the chin surgery will add an hour to my surgery (he estimates about

4 hours in total), and will mean that I will more or less have stitching

all around the gumline outside my bottom teeth. He also said the swelling

in my chin might take longer to go down than in my cheeks, and may add to

numbness.

He says I will be banded, possibly with a splint, for at least 6-8 weeks to

stablise my jaw and train my muscles not to pull my lower jaw

sideways. He says it is unlikely that I will be wired shut. A week

before the surgery I have to get the rubber bands around my braces replaced

with wire ties and also have some surgical hooks added on.

He said not to use a water pik for a while until my stitches had settled

down, but that he'd give me some special mouthwash and I could use an

infant's toothbrush on my top front teeth (although it will be hard to get

behind them due to the banding. He said it will be quite a long time

before I can chew as the muscles tend to seize up post-surgery and require

significant re-training and exercising to get them to move again after

being stuck in the one position for so many weeks.

I asked him about Boost and Ensure and he said that in Australia the

equivalent is Sustagen but you can get Ensure from some health food stores.

Has anyone had the chin surgery as well as the lower jaw? How did you find

it? How was your recovery time?

I'm a university lecturer, so I'm worried about the possibility of having

to stand up in front of my classes while drooling and not realising it!

Sam.