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.
June 30, 2013 at 6:27 pm
Wow- 3 years since this was posted and you are still responding to questions! You are a good man, Graham.
July 2, 2013 at 9:40 am
It’s my gift to fellow orthodontic war heroes, Emily. =)
June 27, 2013 at 6:39 am
Thank you everyone for your comments. You have eased my worries for the moment. 🙂
June 26, 2013 at 11:11 am
nicole i work in rehab therapy and when we have a patient with nerve damage we do a lot of touch therapy basically get a bit of ur lip or area close to it that u feel and slowly and softly rub the area around that if u feel it move along and so on ive been doing this to my upper lip since after my ortho surgery which was 5weeks ago and after just a few weeks i can nearly feel it all not 100% yet but the feelings there touch is very important in nerve healing cos the brain doesnt recognise numbness so the healing process is lenghtly. rubbing your face when dry like your washing it is a great way for your senses to come back we use this with stroke patients too and it has a huge sucess rate hope this helps
lea-anne x
June 25, 2013 at 9:07 pm
Nicole, It has been 6 months since my own surgery, and I am just now regaining full feeling in my lower lip. I actually forgot all about my lower lip being numb until you mentioned it, as I got so used to it having no feeling. It will come back in time; you just have to be patient. My lip stayed completely numb for about 4-5 months, so don’t panic!!
June 25, 2013 at 12:10 pm
hi graham it’s me again!! It has been officially 3 months since double jaw and genio!! I still have no feeling in chin or lower lip!! Please please please tell me it’s coming back!! Doctor told me to wait 6 months but common. 🙁
June 26, 2013 at 9:22 am
Nicole, it is actually common for feeling to take up to 6 months to return, but it’s also smart to mentally prepare yourself in case those nerves remain permanently damaged. If that’s the case, you’ll honestly be amazed at how quickly you forget about the fact that you have patchy feeling in certain parts of your face. Stay positive, though, because bruised nerves can sometimes take quite a while to heal up (as Coby mentioned)!
June 19, 2013 at 12:12 pm
Hey Graham,
I’m almost 7 months post-op now and my orthodontist just told me I still have to wear my bands on both sides for 20 hours a day now. Is that normal? I would assume that after 7 months post-op I would have more freedom. I feel like im still in month 1.
June 20, 2013 at 10:13 am
Steven, I wore my bands for a full 9 months after the operation (until I had my braces removed), so it is normal, yes. Most orthodontists recommend you wear your bands fulltime until you have your braces taken off. It sounds annoying, but the moment the braces come off, you no longer need the bands either. =)
June 15, 2013 at 7:42 pm
Hi Graham. I’m getting double jaw surgery in about a month. I’m 17 and school starts again on August 26th. I was wondering how long the swelling will take to go down and if you think I would be ready to go back to school. I have my second to last orthodontist appointment on Monday before my surgery, and I have a meeting with my surgeon in a few weeks. If you could give me advice, that would be great. Thank you.
June 16, 2013 at 1:28 pm
Stephanie, after a month of recovery, you’ll be able to attend class and focus through the day, but your speech may still be difficult to understand. I would still advise you to undergo the surgery now in the name of putting it behind you, but just be mentally prepared to deal with a communications barrier for the first 2–3 weeks of school. =)
June 14, 2013 at 5:50 am
Hi Graham.
Your website is a salvation. I am impressed with your responses and care. I broke my jaw in an accident and had surgery to repair it about 2.5 weeks ago. I broke it in two places, one at my chin and one at the right hinge. Everything seems to be healing up ok, with the exception that the right side of my lower lip is pretty non-responsive, while the left side seems quite swollen (as well as the lower side of my chin). The doctors (I have multiple unfortunately) all say different things but basically say this is normal . . however from what I read online, jaw surgery should not affect motor nerve skills (or very rarely). When you refer to parts of the face being ‘frozen’, etc. . .is this what you mean? If so, when should I hope for it to recover? Should I be as stressed as I am? My smile is not affected, but stationary mouth is shifted to the left side.
thanks so much,
Le
June 15, 2013 at 12:44 pm
Le, jaw surgery did not impact any facial movement for me (once I was healed up, of course). When I mention parts of my face being “frozen,” I mean that the nerves in part of my lip and chin were bruised during the operation and never recovered. I suppose you could consider that to be permanent nerve damage, in that those parts of your face always feel like they’re asleep, but I adjusted to the lack of feeling so quickly that I truly don’t even notice it any longer. If you’re lacking actual movement in your face, that is likely directly related to your accident. I can’t say if the surgery will solve that problem, so you’ll have to do your research and trust your doctors on that front. I wish you all the best in your decision!
May 28, 2013 at 8:26 pm
Hi Graham, I had double jaw surgery one week ago, and today I picked up my dog to get him in the car and his face ended up applying pressure to the right side of my face. It wasn’t a hit or a hard impact, but it was definitely more pressure than I have put on it at all. I’m concerned now because the right side of my face is still hurting and may be a little bit more swollen as well. My biggest fear is that I would have to do this surgery again. Aside from not picking up my dog until this is all over, any suggestions or tips?
May 29, 2013 at 11:04 am
Danielle, I would apply a heatpack to your face and sleep on it. If it still hurts more than normal tomorrow, give your surgeon a call and ask if you can come in for a quick 10-minute checkup to make sure that nothing has shifted. If it wasn’t a hard, abrupt impact, you should be perfectly fine, but if it hurts for more than 24 hours, I’d get your surgeon to check it out in the name of due diligence. =)
May 26, 2013 at 12:44 am
Hey Graham,
Just wanted to check in and give an update on my progress!
So my surgery was Jan 14th all was goin very well, swelling gone earaches gone, even the numbness is gone. Then about a month ago my bite started getting smaller I couldn’t stretch it open and it just locked up! I waited for insurance to clear and then yesterday I had arthrocentesis, where the put me under general anesthesia and injected fluid into my TMJ and literally forced my jaws apart. It sounds alot worse than it was. I feel much better now, they don’t know why it happened but one theory he had was that my jaws were not used of all my teeth touching together which put a lot of pressure on the joint causing it to lock up. Just thought I’d post it here in case any one else is experiencing something similar.
May 27, 2013 at 10:23 am
Teresa, that sounds like an intense experience, what with the forcing-your-jaw-apart bit! I’m glad you’re in better shape now! =)
May 24, 2013 at 8:33 am
i know it feels weird i can feel the swelling go down which is strange but wonderful ! it almost feels like water dripping from the inside. i must admit i am starving though this sucks big time ive lost 6lbs and im only day 5. still no pain as such just pressure i use ur blog as a bible its similar to mine just different stages but then ur in canada and im in scotland so thats to be exected i am just glad im able to read n think yeah thats what i feel i should feel like this tomorrow lol my doctor gave me a sick line for work today a whole week !!! she is ever so kind but i have a feeling i wont be back after just 1 week off 😀
May 23, 2013 at 8:57 am
so had double jaw surgery monday so that makes me 3days post op was under for 9 hours total needed both upper and lower jaw corrected they took bone from my hip and put that and metal plates around my eye sockets and cheekbones. i feel remarkably well no pain as such just the uncomfortableness from swelling i am able to drink from a straw and am eating soup/fluids from spoon only on liquid paracetamol for pain feeling good though thats a good sign i hope lol.
May 23, 2013 at 9:47 am
Lea-anne, I can’t believe you had hardware put in around your eye sockets, wow! Your x-rays are going to look totally robotic when you’re all healed up! =)
May 20, 2013 at 2:53 am
Thanks! I’ll try the gum trick! I don’t know how to whistle! haha.
May 15, 2013 at 9:21 am
Hey Graham,
I’m almost 6 months post-op and I’m loving it. Biting and eating is so much easier but I do have a concern though. My mouth isn’t opening as wide as it should. I’m afraid that it might be stuck like that forever and my gums are still almost completely numb. Is my mouth going to revert back on it’s own or is there something I should do to make it open. My primary surgeon never gave me an excercise.
May 16, 2013 at 9:40 am
Steven, are you chewing gum and whistling throughout the day? Chewing gum provides constant exercise for your jaw, thereby stretching the muscles out, and whistling will aid in breaking up any scar tissue in your face. Try chewing sugar-free gum most of each day and take up whistling as hobby and you may notice increased movement coming back. =)
May 14, 2013 at 1:59 pm
I had double jaw surgery and my chin done in December, my face still swells up and i get alot of pain in one side is This normal nearly 6 months after op?
May 15, 2013 at 9:17 am
Cara, you shouldn’t be swelling up or experiencing pain 5–6 months post-op. I know I offer this advice seemingly all too often, but I would give your surgeon a call and ask to have an x-ray performed to make sure the hardware in your jaw is still in place. You could be swelling up due to a bracket that broke off and is causing discomfort.
May 4, 2013 at 7:01 am
Graham,
i had jaw surgery 3 days ago, the surgeon removed my bandages today, it looked awfull, its so swelled.
1. how long will the swelling last?
2. im so worried about numbness in my lower right lip and lower righ chin, i can feel the pinch and hot and cold substances but still its quite numb, how long will this numbness last , is this sensation of pinch and cold and hot things is a good sign of recovery?
3. i feel like crying, i want to get my earlier face back, my earlier face was way better, pls help me graham pls 🙁
May 5, 2013 at 9:02 am
Hi Shaun,
1) The swelling will be intense for 2–4 weeks, so you’ll have to get used to it for at least a little while.
2) If you can feel sensations in your lip and chin, that generally means the nerves are healing. However, you’re only 3 days in, so it’s honestly not worth your energy to even consider loss of feeling for another couple of months. Nerves take quite a while to wake up again.
3) You need to keep a positive attitude. Make yourself smoothies, find television series to pass your time with, and make sure you go outside for walks every single day (if not twice every day). You’ll feel much better in a few weeks, I promise. The surgery is absolutely worthwhile!
April 30, 2013 at 1:24 am
that makes me feel alot better thank you i showed this blog to my surgeon and he said this should be the bible to jaw surgery haha said its a good descriptive blog and many things said are accurate so im in good hands with both surgeon and this lol, i actually cannot wait to see the results the excitement at the moment is outweighing the fear this may change on the day !! thanks again 😀
April 29, 2013 at 2:43 pm
ok so graham new schedule lol they are now planning to correct both jaw allignment aswell as taking a bone graft from my hip to help with eye socket and cheekbone implants!! then 6 month after surgery they will correct my nose i was a tad worried when it was postponed in feb now im freeking out!!! please tell me youve heard of someone who had this im in for surgery (if all goes to plan and no cancellation this time) 20th may
April 29, 2013 at 4:37 pm
Lea-anne, I know one lady who had to return to her surgeon several months later to have another small operation involving her nose and she’s doing well today. I’m not sure if she’s experiencing any complications, but I’ve met her a few times and she hasn’t complained about anything, so I can only assume that she’s doing great! Considering this surgeon is bone-heavy, I doubt that a little extra work to maintain the shape of your cheek won’t produce too much of a difference in recovery. You’ll be in good hands! =)
April 19, 2013 at 10:09 am
Interesting. It will be 3 months post-opp on May 1st w/o any followups scheduled so I guess I should just relax. He was seen at 10 days and 6 weeks. Still working on opening his mouth more. He can now now place 2 fingers up and down, almost enough to bite into a sandwich.
When someone goes back for a septum repair on, how much later is it? Is it like six months?
Again, thanks Graham!
April 19, 2013 at 7:00 pm
Berni, if a patient needs their septum repaired or repositioned, I believe surgeons like to wait until their recovery is near complete (around the three month mark). You’ll have to call your surgeon for a more educated answer than that, though, because I never had that done, personally.
April 17, 2013 at 5:52 pm
Hi – I was curious how much follow up is typical afterwards. My son had the LeFort, upper jaw split with a splinth, etc. Had several follow up appts in the 1st six weeks post-op, then nothing. I called the office to see if further follow ups needed to be scheduled and the office person said “why, is he having a problem?” so I backed off.
He does see the orthodontist once a month who said the braces should come off this summer.
April 18, 2013 at 12:11 pm
Berni, I had checkups at one week, two weeks, one month, and three months. I began seeing my orthodontist occasionally after that, but there certainly wasn’t a heavy schedule of follow-up appointments. If your surgeon isn’t scheduling any and your son is feeling alright, there’s no need to head in for another checkup. =)