Swelling and pain on eating on one side after 1 month

[Luciangreuceanu]

Hello fellow colleagues,

After 1 month I have swelling only on the left side and pain on this site when trying to eat.
Is it normal?

Thanks for your support.

[sakura]

When you say eating....do you mean soft food or do you mean actual chewing?

[Luciangreuceanu]

I am allowed to open my mouth, since no more elastics, only splint.

So the pain on the left side is when I open my mouth and try to eat.

[sakura]

Your jaw muscle atrophied quite a bit during those weeks you were banded so pain is normal..... Later on you will enter the wonderful world of jaw exercises which will give you a whole new meaning of pain. Take things slow. Your muscles are also trying to move to where it used to be but cant so you are bound to get some aches and pains.

As for why one side hurts more than the others, it could be a variety of things. One side could be more worked on than the other. In my case, in addition to moving my jaw forward, they had to shift it to the right and rotate a bit. Might be worth mentioning to your surgeon when you next see them.

[Luciangreuceanu]

Thanks for your fast reply.
Indeed, from what I know they also did a rotation when performing the surgery.
Actually, tomorrow I will have the 1 month appointment with the doctor for taking out my splint.

I will tell him about the issue.

Many thanks!
Keep in touch.

[sakura]

If they did a slight rotation it's going to be tender. For me I find that it was more difficult to open that side of my mouth wider than the other. sometimes taking a look at the X-ray will help you get a bearing on why your jaw might hurt as well. I always find that a certain area was slightly swollen than others and it turned out that was where they put my plate and screws so I worry about it less now.

[Luciangreuceanu]

So I had my splint removed and the surgeon said that the pain on one side is ok.
No I am back to orthodontic world.

When did you start biting / chewing?

Thank you very much for your help.

Keep in touch.

[EWUgal15]

I wasn't allowed to chew until 6 weeks post op. Had an ortho adjustment and my surgical hooks removed at 7 weeks.