Metal Mouth Message Board

I'm a therapist (counselor/clinical social worker). I have to talk for my job. I'm wondering what kind of timeline I'm looking at for recovery after orhognathic surgery before I can talk again and resume work.

What type of surgery are we talking about? If you're talking upper and/or lower and you have a splint placed, you're not going to be able to talk clearly with it in. Sometimes people wear them for upwards of 6 weeks. No splint, it's still a few couple of weeks before you can talk clearly and even then, it may be painful to spend all day talking. I took 6 weeks off work but probably could have gone back and been okay around week 4, but I don't do a lot of talking at my job.

[quote="jaime"]What type of surgery are we talking about? If you're talking upper and/or lower and you have a splint placed, you're not going to be able to talk clearly with it in. Sometimes people wear them for upwards of 6 weeks. No splint, it's still a few couple of weeks before you can talk clearly and even then, it may be painful to spend all day talking. I took 6 weeks off work but probably could have gone back and been okay around week 4, but I don't do a lot of talking at my job.[/quote]

Thanks, Jamie! It's supposed to be upper and lower. Lower is moving the jaw forward, upper is widening the jaw a little. I have to talk all day. So, I'm sure it will take me a little longer. How long was it before talking wasn't as painful?

I'm on day 42 and I still can't talk normal. The muscles around my mouth are contracted and my tongue is in a different position. It takes a while to get back to normal.

I work in a job where I talk all day. I was really worried but my surgeon told me I should take three days weeks off. I am on my last week off and I can talk. It is a little lispy but people can understand me fine. I have rubber bands on the sides of my teeth and I think they cause the lisp.

I could talk during week two but sometimes it was mumbled and not understood. Nothing that repeating myself didn't help.


I had double jaw surgery.

[quote="StefanoMI"]I'm on day 42 and I still can't talk normal. The muscles around my mouth are contracted and my tongue is in a different position. It takes a while to get back to normal.[/quote]

Thanks for letting me know your experience! How long did it take before it wasn't too painful to talk? Can people understand you at day 42 even though it's not back to normal?

[quote="Basicgrey7"]I work in a job where I talk all day. I was really worried but my surgeon told me I should take three days weeks off. I am on my last week off and I can talk. It is a little lispy but people can understand me fine. I have rubber bands on the sides of my teeth and I think they cause the lisp.

I could talk during week two but sometimes it was mumbled and not understood. Nothing that repeating myself didn't help.


I had double jaw surgery.[/quote]

That's great news for me! Three weeks recovery with double jaw surgery? Thanks for sharing!!!

After having double jaw surgery I couldn't talk very well for the first 4 weeks because I had a splint wired into my mouth. After this I could talk and be understood but I was nowhere near back to normal. I'd say I was 80% back to normal at roughly 6-8 weeks post-op, and have only now 100% returned to normal at 12 weeks post op.

tdhenson86 wrote:

StefanoMI wrote:I'm on day 42 and I still can't talk normal. The muscles around my mouth are contracted and my tongue is in a different position. It takes a while to get back to normal.

Thanks for letting me know your experience! How long did it take before it wasn't too painful to talk? Can people understand you at day 42 even though it's not back to normal?

I could talk from day 0 but it took some figuring from my mother to understand what I was saying. With time it gets better.
Now, on day 50, I can talk almost normally. Not 100% normal because I still speak with a slight lisp but it's getting better week after week. My surgeon said that after 3 months my speech should be back to normal 100%.

[quote="Mart"]After having double jaw surgery I couldn't talk very well for the first 4 weeks because I had a splint wired into my mouth. After this I could talk and be understood but I was nowhere near back to normal. I'd say I was 80% back to normal at roughly 6-8 weeks post-op, and have only now 100% returned to normal at 12 weeks post op.[/quote]

Thanks for sharing, Mart! May I ask how old you are? I've heard recovery is different depending on age. Not sure if that's true.

tdhenson86 wrote:

Mart wrote:After having double jaw surgery I couldn't talk very well for the first 4 weeks because I had a splint wired into my mouth. After this I could talk and be understood but I was nowhere near back to normal. I'd say I was 80% back to normal at roughly 6-8 weeks post-op, and have only now 100% returned to normal at 12 weeks post op.

Thanks for sharing, Mart! May I ask how old you are? I've heard recovery is different depending on age. Not sure if that's true.

I'm 28 years old, with a good degree of fitness.

Mart wrote:

tdhenson86 wrote:

Mart wrote:After having double jaw surgery I couldn't talk very well for the first 4 weeks because I had a splint wired into my mouth. After this I could talk and be understood but I was nowhere near back to normal. I'd say I was 80% back to normal at roughly 6-8 weeks post-op, and have only now 100% returned to normal at 12 weeks post op.

Thanks for sharing, Mart! May I ask how old you are? I've heard recovery is different depending on age. Not sure if that's true.

I'm 28 years old, with a good degree of fitness.

Thanks! I'm 30 myself in decent shape. I hope my recovery is faster. Hope you're fully recovered now!

Im two and a half weeks post surgery and I talk well and can be clearly understood. I have a small amount of trouble with b)s and p)s but that is really it.

I have been reading aloud. I'm sure that helped.