Recovery Timeline

Following is a brief timeline of important events regarding recovery from double jaw surgery. If you only had a single jaw operated on, your recovery will be much quicker than this.

Keep in mind that every person recovers at a different pace, and also that every surgeon has their own agenda during the recovery process. This is simply the sequence of important events that took place during my personal recovery.

Day 0 (Surgery)

  • You’ll be eating/drinking through a syringe
  • You’ll be unable to sleep very much
  • You may be freezing all night long due to the ice packs wrapped around your face
  • You’ll feel extremely weak
  • You won’t be able to talk
  • You will drool constantly (but you’ll have the suction tube in the hospital to take care of that)
  • Lots of blood will be churning up inside your nose, mouth and throat
  • Your jaw will randomly spasm (and it will be painful)

Day 1

  • Swelling will begin

Day 3

  • Swelling will peak
  • Your bowels will start working again around this time

Day 5

  • Feeling will begin to return to parts of your face
  • Swelling will start to decrease

Day 7 (1 week)

  • You’ll be able to move your mouth a bit easier, so your talking will become more understandable
  • At your 1-week appointment, you’ll be able to brush your teeth, both inside and out (and it will feel amazing)

Day 10

  • Drooling won’t be as rampant any longer
  • You’ll regain slight control over your lips

Day 14 (2 weeks)

  • Most of the swelling will be gone
  • You’ll be able to start drinking from a cup (although it may be messy at first)
  • You can probably remove a few of the elastics clamping your teeth together, so talking will become infinitely more simple
  • Sleeping through the night should no longer be a problem

Day 15

  • Your elastics will start snapping daily, due to your rapid increase in speaking

Day 18

  • Your breath will become bearable again, due to the fact that you’ve been eating different foods and brushing more often

Day 21 (3 weeks)

  • Your energy will start to come back. Take advantage of it! Go for walks and take your bike out for a spin.

Day 22

  • You’ll be receiving substantial feeling back in your upper lip and cheeks. Your nose, lower lip and chin, however, will remain completely numb.

Day 28 (4 weeks)

  • Talking will hardly be an issue any longer. If you have a splint/bite plate in, you’ll sound ridiculous, but people will be able to understand you.
  • Your desire to be social and spend time with people will return in full force. Make sure you take advantage of it, and remember that your friends are not judging you.

Day 29

  • Feeling will begin to return to your lower lip and chin. That feeling will come in the form of pins and needles, but you’ll appreciate it regardless. If no feeling has returned to these parts yet, don’t worry. Surgeons say that it make take up to 90 days for feeling to begin coming back.

Day 31 (1 month)

  • If your elastics are off, you’ll be able to speak quite well by now
  • You won’t drool or spill any longer while eating

Day 32

  • You’ll have most of your normal energy back by now
  • You’ll begin to feel like you’re ready to take life on again. Be warned though: you’re not quite there yet. Give it another month before you go crazy.

Day 38

  • More patches of feeling will return to your chin and lower lip
  • You should no longer have to wear elastics during the day

Day 42 (6 weeks)

  • You should be able to drink through a straw quite easily by now

Day 45

  • Most of your stitches should have dissolved by now

Day 49 (7 weeks)

  • If you had a splint in, it should definitely be removed by now
  • Be prepared to readjust back into the world of orthodontics

Day 56 (8 weeks)

  • You should be able to eat with a small spoon or fork again
  • Licking your lips should be no problem at this point

Day 58

  • You’ll most likely be allowed to blow your nose again. Be gentle, though, because you don’t want to pop a blood vessel.

Day 70 (10 weeks)

  • If you haven’t been able to eat solid food yet, start now. Even if the task of eating involves mashing soft food up against the roof of your mouth, do it anyway. You’ll never gain your strength back on liquid alone.

Day 84 (12 weeks)

  • You should enjoy the freedom of eating just about anything you want by now
  • Consider practising whistling in order to break up the scar tissue that’s sure to be keeping your upper lip from enjoying its full range of motion

Day 90 (3 months)

  • Your three months have finally come to an end! Enjoy eating, breathing and smiling to their full effect.
  • Changes will be fairly slow from this point forward. The results you find yourself with at the 6-month mark will most likely be the results you’ll live with for the rest of your life.

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1740 Comments

  1. Thanks Richard.

    My lips don’t feel cold or numb, they are just dry but I drank lots of water today and find that it’s a bit better. So Graham was right and I will stick with drinking lots of water and applying lip balm.

    Will you be going under general anaesthesia with the next surgery?

    Let me know how your cheeks feel after you’ve had the plates and screws removed.

    BTW, what was your reason to go through this next surgery other than to shave down the bone?

  2. Hi Christine,

    I really think you should talk to your surgeon about your concerns (if anything, just for piece of mind). I never had any problems with dry lips. My upper lip does feel slightly stiffer, but I think that’s because I still have slight numbness around that area. Does your upper lip feel colder in comparison to your lower lip?

    I only know about this procedure because I told my surgeon that I was concerned about my puffy cheeks. I got a 3D scan of my head done, but it looks like where the plates and “step” is, isn’t where the swelling is. I’m seeing her again next week so I’ll find out then what’s going to happen. This procedure and taking out the plates and screws is very minor in comparison to what you’ve already had done! I’m not too worried about it 🙂 I’ll let you know how it goes.

    Yes I feel the same, right beside my nostrils on either side is very hard. I think that’s where the plates are. I’m not sure if getting them removed will make my cheeks less puffy either, but I’ll have more of an idea when I see her next week.

    If the puffiness in my cheeks is fluid (which I think it is) I don’t think it will be going away any time soon. I don’t believe it’s gone down at all in the past 2 months – my surgeon thinks otherwise though *shrugs*

    Go have a chat with your surgeon 🙂 Good luck!

  3. Thanks Graham and Richard for your feedback. Oops, my surgery was 2 years ago – quite a long time!

    I did lots of drinking after the surgery and 2 years on, I find my lips are dry and have that white appearance that I mentioned before which I have to cover up with lipstick and that is annoying. Anyway, I will take your advice and drink lots more water and use vaseline.

    I haven’t heard about a surgery that can wear down the bone, that’s something definately for me to ask my maxillo-facial surgeon or orthodontist. Richard, my hats off to you if you’re having the next surgery to take out the plates and screws. My surgery, although it was 2 years ago, has scared me off from any type of surgery! However, I would love to hear how you went after your upcoming surgery in February because not only on the appearance side but when I touch my cheeks (beside the nose area), I can feel that it’s hard probably because that’s where the screws/plates are. Do you feel the same? I’m not sure if having them removed will make the cheek area feel softer. I would like to hear from anyone who has had their screws, plates removed to comments on the their experiences – before and after removal of screws/plates ie feel and appearance.

    I’m surprised that my body is still retaining fluid after 2 years? I guess I am slow recoverer!

    Thanks again.

  4. Christine,

    My surgery was around 5 months ago now and my cheeks are still puffy. When I smile it’s really obvious. My surgeon says that it could be due to the plates and the “step” created in the bone after moving my top jaw forward. I might be having another surgery in February to remove the plates and perhaps wear down the bone so there isn’t such a prominent “step”. However, the chances are that it’s still fluid that my body needs to drain. My surgeon told me that some swelling can last up to a year, so I wouldn’t worry too much about it.

    -Richard

  5. Hi Christine,

    You have a little typo in your message, so I’m not sure if you had the surgery 2 months ago or 2 years ago.

    If it was only 2 months ago, you’re still in good shape. You’ll be swollen for at least another month and your face will be shifting around for another month or two as well.

    If you’re finding your lips to be dry, make sure you’re drinking enough water. I recommend a minimum of 2L per day. If you do that and apply lip balm, your lips should be soaking up moisture in no time at all.

    Give yourself another couple of months before evaluating your appearance and swelling. It may make a world of difference.

  6. Hi There

    I had double jaw surgery 2 ago but I’m still looking a bit puffy around the cheeks and finding that when I smile, it doesn’t look natural. Kinda look like an angry dog! The upper lip area still feels stiff and I find that my lips are drier than before. Not sure whether not enough blood supply going to the lips as they get dry and white. On the positive side, I dont have any numbness on the chin, lips or cheeks however the palate and gums/teeth area still feel strange – numb but not numb, really hard to explain.

    So just want to ask if anyone out there who had this surgery are having these kinda effects even after such a long time and what they have done about it. I’ve browsed the net to see if what I’m going through was common but I find that majority have healed faster than me – swelling down within weeks (amazing!).

    I didn’t have problems closing my mouth or my lips touching each other previously.

  7. I told you they’d go away! I’m glad you’re living a bit more comfortably now!

    I don’t have any exciting recipes to share because I lived off of Ensure and blended Chunky soup. One thing you might want to try is barbecuing a hamburger with barbecue sauce and blending it up with some milk. It could be tastier than you think!

  8. Hey Graham! I posted a few weeks ago about my painful muscle spasms, and you were right! They were gone after a week!! I still have my mouth wired shut, hopefully for only two more weeks. Do you have any recipes that are amazing in a liquid diet? All I’ve had is ensure, tomato soup, broccoli and cheese soup, milk tea, and broth. And on the first week when you got your mouth unwired, was it painfully difficult trying to chew normal food? Can you chew nuts now I remember you saying you still had to work on that before.

  9. Aldo, I’m glad this site is useful for ya!

  10. EmJ, good to hear from you again! Getting your braces off is pretty much the best thing that can happen to a person (in my humble opinion at least).

    I’m excited for you! =)

  11. This is the greatest reference for me right now. Thank you so much!!

  12. Hi All!

    Hope you all had a great Christmas & New year!!

    Well nearly 3 months post OP and things are going well. Chewing has become normal agian, still a bit of numbness in my bottom lip but this going slowly. Would say about 60-70% normal now.

    Was at the Orthodontist today and I got a date for my braces to come off!! 17the Jan. Can’t wait now but in a strange way wil be strange with out them after 3 years.

  13. Nicole, the recovery is different for every single person. If you’re able to return to school within a couple weeks of surgery, you may simply be a superhero!

  14. i hope this is unacurate …. i got my surgery a week & a half ago & im actually pretty good, back to school & work in a week or so .

  15. Hi Billie,

    You should be alright to travel at the 5-week mark, but I wouldn’t plan on giving any presentations or anything like that.

  16. Hey

    Thanks for your website. really calm my nerves. I have an appointment for double jaw surgery on 22nd Feb. I have a work trip on 28th March, do you think I would recover in time for the work trip?

  17. I wouldn’t worry about anything for another month, Diana. I still had quite a few issues at the 2-month mark, but they all went away by the time I hit 3 months. Your bone is still healing, so pain is certainly possible.

    If this is still happening in another month, I would definitely talk to your surgeon about it. In fact, for your own peace of mind right now, perhaps you should call your surgeon just to hear what they have to say. After all, that’s part of what you paid them for.

    Good luck, and heal well!

  18. Hi graham.. I just have one last question..
    I’m already 2 mths since the op..
    My swelling went down alot, looking almost normal. But I still have difficulty closing my lips comfortably.. It’s like, I have to force it to close and I feel a slight pain on my jaw.. Is that TMJ? I have absolutely no idea if my lips will ever close without me trying to and I have never had this before..

  19. You can expect to have your braces on for another 6-12 months, but rest assured, you are in your final year now!

    And trust me: all that orthodontic warfare will be totally worthwhile. 🙂

  20. I know what uou mean about eating. Been able to eat normaly since Wednesday.
    It dosn’t hurt to chew just feels really strange after 7 weeks of not chewing. You don’t realise how much you take chewing for granted.

    Got an appointment in about 3 weeks with my orthodontist. He came to see me on wed at my appoinment with the surgons and he said it shouldn’t take to long to finish everything off. He didn’t give a time as he wasn’t really ment to see me, but hopefully when i do see him, i will get more of an idea of how long my braces will be on.

    It feels good now the end is almost in sight after a long nearly 3 year journey.

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