Metal Mouth Message Board

My jaw is wired shut, I have swollen cheecks and I'm always drooling. Please, help because I feel pain- discomfort. What can I do?

I had a leefort something. I'm not really sure, I know that top and lower jaws were broken. I just feel really swollen, and my throat is sore. I tried a heated package, but I don't like the feel of it against my cheeck.

Hi Ashjean,

How long do have you to be wired for?

I used ice for about a week after my surgery. It may not have had any real benefits, but I was in a lot of discomfort and it seemed to dull the pain somewhat.

I don't know what to suggest for the sore throat - maybe a cold milkshake or something? On that note, are you getting some kind of food into you?

Hang in there - it will get better each day.

I was there six weeks ago and am still wired. Try to gargle with warm salt water as much as possible. It might help with pain and throat irritation. Also, I took alieve and motrin with my other medications. The pharmacist suggested this and it has helped a lot. I have learned to drink a ton of water and when in bad pain sleep with my head atop several pillows. Seems like the throbbing settles down with the head elevated and the drooling stops.

thankx for the the tip. Water has been my friend, lately. I feel much better, I actually wanted to go out with some friends, because I don't feel horrible. However, I still look like a zombie-chipmunks. When do I start looking normal?

I was in the exact frame of mind. I needed to get out of my house asap and back into the real world. For the one of trapsing back in forth to the freezer for ice, turning that blame heating pad on and off, and felling sorry for myself was getting too very drab.

I had a horrible bulge and swelling on my bottom jaw that near frightened my children. Seems my resident Doctors at Parkland Hospital in Dallas were seemingly drunk themselves when they stuck and arch bar wire in my salivary gland.

I do rightly believe that it was day 7 or 8 when I went on a date. Even the softness and sweetness of a kiss has become a real downer but on the flipside who really liked foreplay anyway!!!

I hate eating soup all the time! Is there a website that has recipes for a liquid only diet?

Thanks, I placed a bookmark on the page with all the recipes!

Im 18 days post op and still feel very swollen, the swelling went down alot within the first week but it feels like its getting worse again im very swollen around my cheeks and even my nostrols are swollen! Im too getting sick of soup! But i make myself nice deserts which make it better! Ill mix custard and bannanas or strawberrys and cream in the food prosseser. My bands have been losend abit and i can just about slip a chocolote milky button in my mouth its like heaven!

asd,

I am on day 12 from LeForte I and BSSO. I have been pureeing/liquifying just about everything to great success. Just make sure to give it a run-through the sieve beforehand. The best dilutents, as Meryaten said, are juices, stocks, and milk. I really like chicken stock for most of my meals. One can for one serving of dinner seems to work pretty well.

8 weeks wired has tons of great recipes if you're not adventurous--that way you know just how much of each ingredient to use. I had a peanut butter smoothie the other day that was YUMMY!

http://www.8weekswired.com/recipes_ideas.asp

Good luck, and no matter what, make sure that you are getting enough fluids. My surgeon has stressed this a lot, and I think it makes a big difference in your healing.

Good luck!

Yes Holly
Eight weeks wired is a great site. When I originally posted it here I was thrilled to have found it. They have some good recipes, however, many require the use of supplement drinks like Ensure. I personally steered clear of these. I realize they can be helpful, but mostly they are full of chemicals and preservatives and i wanted to keep things as healthy an "whole food" as I could.

Smoothies are ok, but after about 2 days of them, I was totally puked out on sweet stuff. Some of my favorite SARPE foods were: pancakes (these are so easy to eat, and don't get all clogged up in the RPE) Spaghetti with sauce, chopped up real small, really any kind of pasta is edible though. I've had ravioli, penne, rigatoni, with just about every type of filling or sauce you can imagine. Also if you like asian food, vietnemese pho noodle soup is really good. It is the one thing I can eat that always makes me feel so much better! Egg flower soup (comes packaged in the store, just add a couple scrambled eggs to it and it becomes a very filling, high protein meal) Cottage cheese with peaches or pears, scrambled eggs with cheese or ground ham. I would cut ham up, put it in my magic bullet blender for a few seconds then mix it into the eggs before I scrambled them. They were soft and loaded with protein.
These were some of my favorites. I'm 6 weeks post op upper and lower and mostly I'm still eating very soft foods, soups, and smoothies. Chewing doesn't feel very good yet, especially with everything still numb.

SARPE is not near as involved of a surgery as what Phil and I just had. It feels a bit weird, and uncomfortable, but chewing with SARPE is not going to hurt you. Short of being careful not to eat stuff that can get stuck in the expander you should be fine. The bones are just fractured for palate expansion, not totally broken. I ate from day one, and all the way through my 17 days of expansion, and I was cranking the key twice a day. Eating can get tough from your teeth being misaligned for awhile, and that is probably the most aggravating part of it all (that and actually having to survive with the RPE.) Don't be afraid to eat though, bottom line is, if it doesn't hurt your teeth when you chew, then you are golden. If it does, then find something else to eat.

It's a small price to pay, for the end results. You will be so happy when this is all over. Trust me, it could be worse, you are actually getting out of it pretty easy with just a SARPE. I"M JEALOUS! LOL

Hope this helps some

Brandy

Brandy,

I have to agree. If I could have gotten away with only SARPE, ah, how different! All in all, though, my recovery from LeForte/BSSO has not been too bad.

(apologies for hijacking this thread!

No problem. I love that there is someone going through the same thing as I am!

I'm feeling great???? Well, not GREAT but the best since the op. Sadly, I can't close my lips! It hurts when I try to put my lips together and my upper lips are so sensitive. I use a lot of Vaseline, does anyone have any tips?