- Re: Surgeon Wants to Stretch Jaw Muscle

[Guest guest]

Hi Pam,

I had multiple jaw surgeries because I had joint problems along with

my huge overbite. I was born with a small lower jaw and malformed

TMJ's. My overbite got progressively worse over the years due to

arthritic changes in the joints. We were hoping that orthognathic

surgery would slow down the degeneration in my joints but despite

taking all possible precautions, my joints just got worse. Because

of my 20+ mm overbite, my orthognathic surgeon did the surgery in

two stages. First he used distraction osteogenesis to slowly advance

my lower jaw 17 mm. Three months later, he removed the distractors

and moved my upper jaw 5 mm. Afterwards, I was not able to open my

jaw at all so he referred me to another surgeon that specializes in

TMJ surgeries. That surgeon then wanted to treat me as

conservatively as possible. First, he did bilateral arthroplasties

where he grafted part of my temporalis muscle (one of the scalp

muscles) into the joint space to replace the cartilage. That held

about six months and I couldn't open again. The bone loss had

continued so he reconstructed both joints using distraction again to

build up the condyles. That worked for over a year but the arthritis

recurred. New x-rays showed several mm of bone loss in both

condyles. This time, he put in artificial joints. Since there is no

more bone to deteriorate, these should last for years. Artificial

joints typically last 5-15 years so I'll have to have them replaced

sometime in the far distant future. Even five years without any

surgery sounds good to me now.

Good luck on Wednesday. I hope you make good progress by then. Keep

us updated.

> > > Hi all!

> > > I had lower jaw surgery 17 days ago, and I have a question

about

> > > stretching. My OS had me in rubber bands for 8 days, and then

> when

> > he

> > > cut them off, he said I wasn't opening my mouth nearly wide

> > enough. He

> > > gave me PT exercises to do and said he would put me under and

> > stretch

> > > my jaw muscle joint if I had not gotten my mouth to open three

> > fingers

> > > by Wednesday, Aug. 3. When I went in for the Aug. 3

appointment, I

> > > asked him for another week to do exercises to see how much I

> > > progressed because I had gotten my mouth to open two fingers.

He

> > > agreed, but felt sure he would need to stretch me on my next

> > > appointment - Wednesday, Aug. 10. Has anyone had this done?

> What's

> > it

> > > like? Did your OS also knock you out to do it, or did s/he do

it

> > while

> > > you were awake?

> > > I'd appreciate any information.

> > >

> > > Thanks!

> > > Pam