Kissing and Relationships

[Laria]

Hi everyone,

I had double jaw surgery and genioplasty back in November to correct a lot of issues including an overbite. I have two questions I'd like your opinions and experience on.

1. Kissing- I think because I'm numb and my teeth are lined up correctly I keep accidentally biting my boyfriend and sometimes hard. He doesn't say anything to me but I know I've gotten him pretty good a couple of times. Did anybody have to relearn how to kiss? Or is this due to the lip numbness and is temporary?

2. Relationships - Because of the surgery my boyfriend has been extra cautious about being affectionate. He's done a lot for me the last 2 months but I feel like I've become a burden and that we are not as close as we were before the surgery. Everyone tells me it's just me and I'm struggling with this recovery and not being myself. Am I just overthinking things?

Any experiences you can share will be greatly appreciated.

[sirwired]

The feeling in the lip should come back over time. I had some work done to a different part of my face (the Parotid gland) about 1 1/2 years ago that involved severing the nerve the provides sensation to the lower half of the ear. For a few months after the surgery, you could have cut off my ear lobe with a rusty butter knife and I would not have noticed. Slowly I regained the ability to feel pinch-level pressure, and now all that time later the feeling is nearly back to normal. If you have any feeling at all in your lip, you should recover a bit quicker than I did. (A BSSO does not involve cutting a nerve trunk, as my operation did.)

Just give it time.

Can't really answer your questions on relationship issues; I know I was something of a wreck in the first couple of weeks, and just really frustrated until I got the splint off at nine weeks... but I didn't have double-jaw, and I know recovering from that is tougher.

[Laria]

Thanks Sirwired,

This whole thing has been a lot tougher then I expected. I went through the first one alone and thought I'd be better emotionally prepared for this one but it's taken its toll.

I do have tingling and feeling in my lips so I guess that's a good dign. I guess this whole thing is a lesson in patients for me.

[redwine]

Glad to see this topic as I am fairly newly single and was wondering about that. Not currently in a relationship but hope to be sometime down the road. They severed the nerve on my left side and I'm worried that my lips will never feel normal again. I already know that part of my chin will never regain feeling but I guess I'll have to live with that. At least I don't have to shave and worry about cutting myself!