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.
September 24, 2011 at 7:43 pm
Hi Jane:
I found the tingling quite unnerving and almost painful for the first 10 days, and then somehow it was more tolerable, until if faded away somewhere around the 3 month mark, as Graham says.
Graham:
Thanks for your reply about the numbness. I was prepared for the chin taking a long time to never to regain feeling, but no one told me about the teeth and palate. It is what it is now, but I was definitely not given adequate information with which to form a proper consent. Because of that, I am not sure I would do it again if I knew then what I now know. I am not giving up hope since it seems something slight changes almost every day, but I will be very disappointed if I don’t recover significantly more feeling in my teeth and palate than I have now. Thanks for the information about the teacher. Gives me something to hope for.
September 24, 2011 at 1:27 am
That feeling of tingling is most definitely normal. It will likely stick around until the 3-month mark.
September 23, 2011 at 6:25 pm
Thank you graham, for the feedback I’m going to try very hard not to complain so much and heal.. Is it normal for your face to tingle? It’s not hurting, just very bothersome..
September 23, 2011 at 5:47 pm
Lyn, one of the risks of this operation is the loss of feeling in certain parts of your face. I, like you, will likely end up with permanent nerve damage, leaving parts of my chin and bottom lip with the permanent feeling of being frozen.
There’s always a chance that the nerves will heal over time, but I can assure you that, as your surgeon mentioned, you do adjust to the loss of feeling quite quickly. The only times I’m reminded of my numbness is when somebody asks about it or I’m shaving.
It’s a bothersome thought, but soon you won’t even notice it. The human body adjusts to loss of feeling in miraculous ways.
Don’t write off all hope either. I knew a teacher in high school whose feeling returned over 2 years later (though I’m not counting on mine re-establishing itself).
September 23, 2011 at 5:37 pm
I just had a very unsatisfactory appointment with my surgeon. I am over 5 months post op and still don’t have much feeling in my top teeth or palate. I asked if it would come back. His response was “well, you just get used to it and then it becomes like normal”. Can someone please tell me this isn’t so? I do have some feeling…more like discomfort…when I brush, and that wasn’t there before…
September 23, 2011 at 5:33 pm
Nice to meet ya, Jane! You’re in the peak of the swelling right now. Over the course of the next week, swelling will become less bothersome, but you’re going to feel quite claustrophobic for a few more days.
You’ll be able to breathe easy again very soon, and trust me, it will make you want to shout for joy (except don’t, because it’ll hurt). =)
September 23, 2011 at 5:28 pm
Hi graham!
I’m 5 days post-op and i’m having major swelling on my cheeks and lips.. Also, most of my face are numb.. I still can’t can’t sleep, breath.. It’s starting to really bug me.. They gave me painkillers and a nose nasal spray, it became a bit bearable.. But i do have have an appoinment soon and she said she’s gonna take out the wires and bands out..
September 17, 2011 at 10:27 am
Santy, your swelling will go down eventually. I’m not sure why it’s taking so long, but you can rest assured it will be gone soon.
Perhaps your bone is just taking a little longer to fuse back together.
I’ll send positive thoughts your way. =)
September 16, 2011 at 11:46 pm
Hi Graham
I am heading for the 8th week and my face is still quite swollen especially chin and lip area. Even my orthodontist is like ????? about it, so im starting to be a bit concern. Also i use to have quite a skinny face, but 8weeks post op i have a really round face and im hoping that this is swelling and that my real result would look nothing like how i look now! Please tell me im right!!!!
September 13, 2011 at 11:46 pm
Sounds like you’re tougher than I am! As I mentioned in other places on this blog, my recovery appears to be a bit slower when compared with the average patient.
It’s good to hear that you’re more able than I was. Best of luck with the rest of your recovery. =)
September 13, 2011 at 10:03 pm
I’d like to point out something that I found conflicting with your timeline with mine.
I had the exact same case as you. Double chin movement, upper jaw move forward, lower move inwards.
*I never lost nerve in nose. Couldn’t feel lower lip for 2 weeks. Almost 3rd week now and i could almost feel in the small area under the lower lip.
*After 2 weeks, the surgeon said the recovery is going smooth, so he took off the plastic splint and the wires that nailed me shut. I am allowed to open my mouth about one finger apart. I was immediately able to slip soup/soft veggies/anything through the 1 cm slit between my teeth.Talking became possible after a day of practice.
*At 3 weeks, most swelling has gone down. Except for the spaces at the lower jaw bone, where the bone was broken. Swelling is noticeable, as many people asked me why did i get so fat in my face(even though i lost 10 lbs)
September 1, 2011 at 12:15 pm
Gray, you can start eating soft food as soon as you’re comfortable doing so, just like Richard said. Just make sure you don’t strain your jaw or teeth too much because you don’t want to end up setting yourself back.
I wasn’t able to start eating soft food until 7-8 weeks post-op, but I haven’t heard of anyone else taking that long.
September 1, 2011 at 12:13 pm
Rachel, you’re the first person I’ve met who had the surgery performed in Korea! And you’re lucky you didn’t have to endure the splint.
I can’t believe the operation had you under for 10 hours. You much be some kind of bionic human being by now!
Thanks for sharing your experience. Stay happy!
August 28, 2011 at 6:42 pm
Hi Gray,
You’re lucky! I’m 5 weeks post op and i still have my bands on. You should be able to start eating soft foods when you feel comfortable to do so. I started eating mince, pasta and rice after 2 weeks. However, it’s probably best to speak to your surgeon first 🙂
Good luck!
August 28, 2011 at 8:35 am
I’m a little over 2 weeks out of surgery. How long was it for you before you could start eating soft foods? I have my rubber-bands off during the day and no splint!
August 27, 2011 at 5:55 pm
oh yeah, i fell in love with the suction tube .. no splint for me! but a retainer like looking thing that got lost of food stuck in it… no pain whatsoever from teh surgery except for the fact that I couldn’t breath well and headaches… and the post op infection thing..I am also gaining all my weight back… a little faster than I want it too.. but then again i’m eating like a pig now. good luck to everyone else!
August 27, 2011 at 5:52 pm
Hey Graham,
I just wanted to tell you about my unique experience with the surgery!
I read your blog way before my actual surgery date and it helped prepare me alot for the days to come… I know all cases are different but I believe my case was all the more unique?… First, I got the surgery in Korea, where there are an infinite amount of similar cases to mine, since it is more prominent in the region where the lower jaw sticks out more.. I got it at Seoul National University’s dental hospital which i feel was a good choice.. First difference to the surgery was that they had me stay about 6 days in the hospital, wherein they would change my bandages repeatedly and make sure I wouldn’t get an infection. I had frequent headaches and my face was abnormaly larger than other post op pics. My surgery took about 10 hours! I also go the infamous infection in my left jaw… my mom says it was my fault for not cleaning it well enough but o well… Getting the… i dont even know what you call it out of my jaw was extremely painful. seeing as how I had no pain whatsoever from teh surgery! Once the infection was out, I flew back to Virginia to start school with my swollen face. I liked to eat alot before my surgery and I believe my cravings is what pushed me to eat what I probably couldn’t.. I could eat and chew by about one and a half months after the surgery… too fast? but I have no feeling in my chin and bottom lip. As I started college, I foudn out that a hall mate had the same surgery but hers took 5 hours and her face looks considerably better than mine? anyways, that was my unique surgery experience! only bad thing is that my mom thinks I have another infection in my left jaw since the swellign is taking a while to go down… I have to fly back to korea for another post op meeting.. alot of people thought I had nose surgery also, since my nose got smaller after the surgery, but my face is still long! and my gums still show when I smile… more so than before… hopefully… all will go well with my othro appointments! thanks again for your detailed day to day posts!
August 13, 2011 at 6:41 pm
You don’t have a splint, Mel?! You’re so lucky! It’s a piece of hardware most of us had wired into the roof of our mouth to stabilize our top jaw. It fits in the same spot as a retainer would.
As for your swollen throat, make sure you’re taking anti-inflammatory medicine. Also, ensure you aren’t eating anything that might scratch up your sensitive throat. I’m not exactly sure why it’s causing you to cough so much, but I think it’s something that will go away in the next few days. Another thing that may help is to make sure you’re drinking enough fluids. Passing water over the sensitive areas will help wash down whatever is causing you to cough.
Best of luck and enjoy your splintless recovery!
August 13, 2011 at 12:22 pm
Hi everyone. I am 9 days out of surgery. I had both upper and lower jaw and chin as well. I am doing A LOT better the last couple of days compared to the first 6 days!!! My only problems now are the constant tingling in my face that is more annoying than painful but the spasms that I am having are horrible and seem to peek at there worst at night when Im trying to sleep. I am dying to sleep one night straight thru. I am eating soft foods now like pasta and stuff but chopped up very small. Which I guess from reading everyone elses blogs isnt normal but my sergeon said it was ok. And what is this splint everyone is talking about….??? Just curious.
Ok so heres my question…
The back of my throat is really swollen… and at night i wake up coughing and feeling like I need to hawk up something (sorry I know its gross) and when i try to i just get mucus with blood in it. Is this happening or happened to anyone else????
August 12, 2011 at 6:25 am
Jenny, you’ll have to ask your surgeon when they’re going to remove your splint. Mine was taken out at 7 weeks, but most people are splint-free after about a month or so.
As for what you can eat, you’re probably still going to restricted to things like smoothies and blended food while your splint is in. You’ll be eating normal food again soon, though! Give it a couple more weeks!