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.

Want to connect with other jaw heroes?

Recovering from jaw surgery can be lonely. That's why many of us hang out in a Facebook group where we support each other leading up to surgery and during recovery. There are hundreds of people from all over the world chatting right now and it's free to join.

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1739 Comments

  1. HI Graham,

    I had double jaw surgery w/ genioplasty and actually had my splint removed at the 2 week mark and was told to start chewing soft foods at this point. Does my surgeon think I’m superman or do you think they are just being overly aggressive given I have healed quite quickly and want to get me on the road to recovery?

  2. For the first 2 weeks, I kept heat on my face for the majority of the day as well (and always at night while sleeping).

    For the month or so following those initial weeks, I used a heatpak whenever I slept.

    The tingling stuck around on my side for about 2 months. Once your nerves recover, that will fade away.

  3. Hi Graham,

    Thanks for your response. I find the heat really helps the tingling. I’m wondering how many hours a day did you use your heat pack? I find I have heat on my face about 80% of the day to control the annoying tingling. Was this the same with you? Has anyone else experinced this much tingling?
    I really appreciate your advice!

  4. Maureen, while I cannot share Krista’s email address (everything here is kept private), I will certainly pass along your name and email to her so that she can contact you herself. 🙂

    Hopefully you’ll hear from her soon!

  5. Maureen Christensen

    April 13, 2011 at 10:18 pm

    Hey Grahm – i just noticed there are recent posts on here! yeah! I thought they were from 2010. Anyway can you share Krista’s return email address or ask her to email me – I’d really like to chat with her about her situation in hopes in can help me? Thanks again! Maureen

  6. Maureen Christensen

    April 13, 2011 at 10:16 pm

    Hey everyone. I’m just curious if this website is still being monitored? I would like to get in touch with krista who wrote a comment above about her ear and nerve issues. I have double jaw surgery and chin in Nov 2010 and developed trigeminal neuralgia. I had brain surgery to correct and still have major pain as a result of stretched nerve. I’m just wondering what her outcome was?

    Thanks, Maureen

  7. Words can’t express how truly helpful it is having someone take the time like you have and create a blog that people can refer to, to put their mind at ease. Especially since you are well and truly recovered and still take the time to offer advice etc.
    Before I read your response I was worried about my swallowing causing issues with my jaw, as I was hearing clicking noises when swallowing and thought that I may be swallowing wrong or something, was also worried about the pressure i put on the inside of my mouth, but in the end I just worry too much, and I’m sure I’ll heal just fine.

    Thanks for your words of wisdom.

    Graham you are a champion Sir!!

  8. Hey Kevin. The swollen lips and sharp pains are definitely normal. I experienced random spasms for about two and a half months post-op.

    The popping noises are fine as well. My jaw moved around and cracked a lot up until about 5 months following surgery. Your jaw will be alright as long as you don’t get hit with anything hard.

    Let your pain be your guide. If you’re still experiencing pain at 2 or 3 months, you might want to ask your surgeon, but up until then, an infection is really the only thing you need to worry about. Everything else is expected. 🙂

  9. I’m now 16 days post op, I’m unable to bring my lips together comfortably and when I do, my upper lip dissapears completely, it’s like I have no upper lip at all.
    I’m also experiencing every so often short sharp pains in the upper tooth and sinus areas, is this normal??

    I’m terrified my jaw is going to relapse or something, also when i swallow my jaw shifts and I feel and hear sorta a crackling or popping in my ears is this normal also?

  10. Krissy, I took Tylenol and kept constant heat on my face to deal with the discomfort caused by the tingling. It’s kind of just something you need to deal with. It will likely dissipate quite a bit in the next week or so when your nerves start to recover.

    Try using heat and medicine, though. That’s your best defense. 🙂

  11. Hello,

    I am Day 6 into my recovery from double jaw surgery. I have extreme tingling in my nose. cheeks and upper lip. I find the tingling to be almost unbearable. Has anyone else experienced this? Is there anything I can do to make it go away or calm it down a little. The tingling is 24/7. I feel like I’m going to go crazy.

    Any suggestions?

    Krissy

  12. Kate, I hope your surgery goes well! Let me know if you have any questions as your date approaches.

  13. Just wanted to say thanks! Came across your blog yesterday — and it has definitely been very helpful! Months away from surgery, but want to be as ‘prepared’ as I can be – and your story, tips & tricks have been helpful. Hope you’re doing well.

  14. I recall having some seemingly random pain in my ears, cheeks and nose during the first few weeks of recovery, but my surgeon assured me it was just my face moving around. If it’s bothering you, just call your surgeon when he’s back in town and ask. You’re paying for support too!

  15. I had a little bit of ear pain, nothing bad though, just a bit of an ache. I got my GP to have a look when I was getting my sick note from work, she said there was a little bit of wax but nothing serious.

  16. I know this a bit behind the times, but Krista up at the top’s story slightly hits home with me. I had my reconstructive jaw surgery on Feb. 23rd and have been on a pretty speedy recovery (no pain, by day 6 could talk and open my mouth a bit and the swelling was down substantially). However, the past 3-4 days ago I have started getting sore in my right ear. Even pushing slightly on the bump going into the ear (called the Tragus apparently) was sore. Now in the past two days, to go along with even more soreness, a sharp pain has been occurring and it happens at various times or when I shift my jaw to the left (which I try not to do of course!). When I take my Tylenol 3 it does alleviate the pain a bit, but I want to know what’s causing it! And just my luck, my surgeon is out of town until Monday.

    I was just wondering if anyone else has had this since Krista’s comment? It doesn’t feel that serious (yet), but just have to see how it goes!

    I also really miss toast! 🙂

  17. As I’m reading this I’m getting completely jealous. I’m 2 days shy of my 4 week mark, and I’m still almost all numb (from my left lower eyelid down my cheek, my upper left quad of my lip, the lower right quad of my lip and my chin). I can’t wait to feel again!

  18. Hi Chrissy,

    First off, don’t make any judgements on your appearance until at least 3-4 months have passed. You won’t feel comfortable with your new face until the swelling is completely gone and you’re healthy and eating and enjoying life again.

    I was really uncomfortable with my face for quite a while post surgery, but I’m quite happy with my new smile now.

    The other thing you have to realize is that you need to get used to your new profile. You’re changing something that you see several times per day, so it’ll take a little while for your brain to realize that it’s still you and you’re still beautiful. 🙂

  19. Hi,
    I had lower surgery done a little less than 2 mos ago. I am not happy with the results. I had asymetry which is still there and before my surgery i had a long skinny face and now it looks wide because of the parts he cut on the each side of my jaw. My face looks big and my smile looks awkward. I dont know what to do. I dont know if i could go in for revisions.

  20. My swelling seemed to stay pretty constant for a solid months after surgery. I definitely remember my swelling getting worse when I tried to talk though.

    On days I hung out with people, my face would throb later on.

    Swelling isn’t bad for you though. It’s just your body’s natural reaction. Nothing to worry about.

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