Broken Jaw v. 2pc Lefort 1 surgery

[shutmymouth]

So naturally the surgery is consuming my life right now.

I try to talk about it with my younger sister (she's 24) and she basically acts like It's no big deal.

Today she said "[her friend] Broke his jaw and was wired shut for 5 weeks. You'll be fine you'll find stuff to eat" after asking her to get me her friend's Green smoothie recipe. (which she refused to get me because "you'll get fat it's got tons of fruit and sugars in it")

So all of this got me to thinking:
Which is the most difficult to recover from? Broken jaw? or Orthognathic surgery?

I'm having a 2pc Leforte I. I dont think she fully understands the complexities associated with the surgery. No doubt a broken jaw is difficult to recover from and is pretty bad too. At least I will be asleep when my jaw is seperated.

Does it take a broken jaw as long to recover as a surgically altered one?

[suzanna]

I would think corrective jaw surgery would be more difficult to recover from, only because the position of you jaw(s) is changed (sometimes drastically) and therefore your jaw muscles and joints are altered too and need to adjust. I'm four weeks post double jaw surgery and my muscles are so sore and stiff, I can only open my mouth 12-14mm depending on how sore my muscles are. If I just broke my jaw I wouldn't be having that problem. I'm sure there would be some degree of atrophy if you're wired shut for 5 weeks with a broken jaw, but I don't think the effect on your muscles would be as severe.

[peaches]

I think it depends on how bad the jaw fracture(s) are and where they occur. I broke mine in 3 places (front fracture, and both condyles) and it was pretty hellish. I was wired for 3 weeks and then on rubberbands, plus surgery to fixate the front with plates/screws. My outcome was pretty good considering, but I am left with slightly decreased mouth opening (~35mm) and my lateral movement (both right to left and front to back) is pretty pathetic. Plus I get some nice joint noise, particularly when I open wide or chew something tough. IIRC, condylar fractures are more likely to result is restricted jaw movement than are other mandible fractures because of their proximity to the TMJ. I also think that breaking a jaw is possibly tougher mentally 'cause you are not able to prepare for it, and there is more uncertainty in outcome, plus no benefit in terms of better occlusion. But honestly, I'm sure that they both suck I also believe that there is a lot of difference in how people respond to injury/surgery. I fall into the category of people who handle it pretty poorly.

[peaches]

Wanted to add that I'm sorry your sister isn't more supportive! I think its hard to understand how difficult it is to have something wrong with your jaw/mouth unless you've been through it yourself.