Metal Mouth Message Board

Hi everyone. I have been a member of this forum for a while now and enjoyed reading everyones threads/advice. On June 23rd I finally had a bimax osteotomy and a genioplasty. The first week post op had me seriously questioning why I decided to go ahead with this torture, but as many of you had posted in the past, the first week is the hardest. 11 days post op and things have definitely improved. The pain has all but gone, I am still swollen and have that horrible stretching /pins and needles feeling on my lower jaw. It literally feels like someone taped my bottom jaw and is forcing it back against it's will. I know I am still swollen and numb in areas but my concern is that I am still unable to close my mouth properly (I had an open bite, lip incompetence and retrognathic lower jaw). I was under the impression that when I woke up from surgery my bite would be "perfect". My bite still does not seem "right". Also although my chin seems to have improved it does not appear to be that much different post op. Is this normal? I am due to see the os on Wed but until then any advice would be appreciated.

indecisive1 wrote:Hi everyone. I have been a member of this forum for a while now and enjoyed reading everyones threads/advice. On June 23rd I finally had a bimax osteotomy and a genioplasty. The first week post op had me seriously questioning why I decided to go ahead with this torture, but as many of you had posted in the past, the first week is the hardest. 11 days post op and things have definitely improved. The pain has all but gone, I am still swollen and have that horrible stretching /pins and needles feeling on my lower jaw. It literally feels like someone taped my bottom jaw and is forcing it back against it's will. I know I am still swollen and numb in areas but my concern is that I am still unable to close my mouth properly (I had an open bite, lip incompetence and retrognathic lower jaw). I was under the impression that when I woke up from surgery my bite would be "perfect". My bite still does not seem "right". Also although my chin seems to have improved it does not appear to be that much different post op. Is this normal? I am due to see the os on Wed but until then any advice would be appreciated.

indecisive1 i too have a open bite. Ive not yet had surgery but have been told to expect a double jaw surgery.
As for you saying that you bite does not feel right, please by no means take my word for it but my guess would be that you muscles need to adjust to the new bite which does take a while getting use to. The muscles go through a process of demobilizing and then adjust to the new functional bite. When this is acheived im sure you bite would feel better.

Don't worry. Your bite will be perfect, but not yet! I too thought it would be perfect when I woke up and it was for the first 12 days when I was wired shut. Then it felt weird and I could still bite in 2 different places. That's b/c the OS did his job and once I was somewhat healed the ortho took over. Once I went in for adjustments he put rubber bands on and stuff. Then my bite started to shift and eventually came into the position it is in today!

I was heavily banded for 5 weeks, and each time I went to my OS to adjust my bands, my bite improved. I thought there was something wrong, too, at first. But I wouldn't worry about it too much - address your concern to your surgeon, but don't lose sleep. he/she knows what they are doing.

Thank you all so much for your words of wisdom! Will keep you posted!