No more elastic... What now?

[sakura]

Hi everyone,

Thank you everyone for your encouragement about brushing inside. I have been getting more and more successful. I saw my surgeon today and have been given the OK to chew but because my mouth still isn't opened 1finger's width he suspects it will be at least another week before I can start to practice chewing. I have been given some jaw exercises which are......painful to say the least. He suggested some pain killer prior to the exercises.

My ortho and surgeon runs joint clinics so the ortho replaced everything today (A thicker wire to fix my midline) and told me no more elastics. I have been waiting for this day since day one and now that I'm here I'm a bit apprehensive. Without elastics I feel like my mouth is just hanging there. Should I be clinching it shut or support it or just let it hang?

In terms of chewing... My surgeon said I could chew what I can now obviously it's not going to be a juicy steak. So what did everyone first sink their teeth into?

[snapdresser]

Mashed potatoes lol. That was the first "solid" thing I had permission from my surgeon to eat!

[missesfood]

Definitely don't clench it shut, this puts pressure on the bones that will prevent them from healing together as well. I had the same problem when I first went elastic-free, you don't really know how to hold your jaws anymore since the elastics were doing it for you. My surgeon said that at rest, your teeth should not actually be touching. The best way to simulate the rest position is to say the letter 'N.' Not the "nuh" sound but the "en" sound. At the end of the N sound, your jaws and tongue are basically in a rest position, so maybe practice this a bit to get a feel for where your mouth should be. It took me a week or so to finally get used to holding my own jaws in place.

[sakura]

Thanks for the response. The N thing totally helps and helps me relax my jaw!