Jaw Surgery Forums » Pre-Surgery Questions

Pain and facial changes

(6 posts)

  1. jware
    Member

    Hi guys,

    I have had my braces on since January now and just had my wisdom teeth out all four of them. I was so so so sick from the anesthetic which included vomiting and nausea. This experience was terrible and leaves me questioning whether or not to go through with my jaw surgery. I have a set date of December the 2nd and am so scared now after this experience. I think for me I would prefer pain then nausea and vomiting! I have a few questions, if anyone has any feedback, I would really appreciate it! I am getting upper and lower jaw surgery and they are moving my chin back into the middle of my face and moving it forward.

    1. How do you feel after the procedure and the week after, is the pain really really really bad as I am so bad with any type of pain at all?

    2. I have breathing problems and when i had my wisdom teeth out i had trouble breathing as i breath through my mouth, they say my jaw surgery will fix this. Is it hard to breath? I don't want the oxygen mask as it made me sick coming out of my wisdom teeth!

    3. How happy were people with their appearance. I am happy with my appearance, I get plenty of compliments on my appearance, im worried my facial features will change like my lips will go funny or the top of my lip. I want to do it but what if i dont like the changes?

    4. How was sleeping at night and eating food. I weigh 55kgs but wouldn't mind loosing my love handles, does the weight you loose get put back on quickly or can u manage it with exercise and dieting?

    Im so nervous! I think I am more nervous because I am a control freak and I dont like the unknown or not being able to control the situation. My surgeon says I wont recover well unless i learn to trust people and fully hand myself over to them (the doctors).

    If anyone has any advice at all about any of it even if its different to my questions like for example taking me through the whole process day one day two etc... that would be great. Five months will come pretty soon and I want to be confident and happy about this!

    Thanks!

    Jess (Sydney Australia)

    Posted 1 year ago #

  2. SLAGATHOR09
    Member

    Hey! I just had a double jaw surgery on July 6th and I'm now 9 days post op. Don't be scared. I was anxious too but I'm happy that I did it.

    1.I'll be honest. When you wake up in the hospital you will be very swollen and tired. You shouldn't be in a lot of pain because they will have you on heavy pain meds. Anyway the first 3 or 4 days are going to be rough. They give you a liquid narcotic ( I was given liquid Hydrocodone) to take every few hours, which takes the edge off. But to be honest after I got home from the hospital I felt like someone had wailed on my face with a baseball bat....not to discourage you. Sleeping will be tricky because you have to sleep kinda elevated for the first day or so to avoid choking on blood/ mucus. The swelling for me peaked around day 3 at home. The good news is that after the third or fourth day I felt loads better every day. Now I am only slightly swollen and I've been off the narcotic since day 4. Now I just take Advil (an otc analgesic in the US) for pain.

    2.Breathing wasn't an issue for me but if you have problems with oxygen tubes that could be an issue. In the recovery room I had an oxygen mask on when I woke up. But once I was awake they took it off and I could breathe on my own if I wanted. Plus they can give you nausea meds if you ask.

    3. I had the same problem when I was deciding whether or not to do the surgery. I looked perfectly normal on the outside before (and after) the surgery but my teeth didn't fit together as they should. The reason I had mine done was to align my bite correctly so I wouldn't develop TMJ or have my teeth wear down weird later in life. Jaw surgery is more about functionality then aesthetics. As far as a change goes, I'm still a little too swollen to tell if there will be any noticeable changes in appearance. But I can guess that since my jaws didn't have that far to go there shouldn't be much of a change.

    4. Sleeping will be rough like I said earlier. For the first few nights you'll sleep 3-4 hours at a time because of the new position and the pain. But after the first few days that won't be a problem. Eating will not be something you look forward to initially. Sucking down 2 cups (About half a liter) of liquid nutrient drink is less than enjoyable but you gotta do what you gotta do. As for weight, I weighed 150lbs (68Kgs) and I lost about 15lbs (7Kgs) and I'm holding my current weight of 135lbs (61Kgs)...Yay Google conversions!

    Good luck on your surgery!

    Tom (Indianapolis USA)

    Posted 1 year ago #

  3. Brandon
    Site Administrator

    Awesome reply, Tom, and congrats on your successful surgery!

    I hope that helps, Jess, and if you have any other questions, just ask.

    I'm Brandon, the creator of JawSurgeryBlog.com. I personally had upper and lower jaw surgery on October 30, 2007. Thankfully, everything went beautifully, so I'm trying to make sure everyone else's surgery goes smoothly as well!

    http://www.facebook.com/pages/Corrective-Jaw-Surgery/114627165257701
    Posted 1 year ago #

  4. stephg65
    Member

    SO, I had some of the same concerns as you. I am 7 1/2 weeks post op, and here are some of my thoughts for you. I was totally a mouth breather too, and was really worried that I would not be able to breathe through my nose, but to do the upper jaw surgery they are working really far up on your face, like in your sinuses, and I can breathe much better through my nose now. I was not wired shut, but rubberbanded tightly after a week, and that really freaked me out at first, but it ended up not being that bad. I actually started crying in the chair when they were putting the bands on because I wasn not used to breathing out of my nose, but really it hasn't been bad. Also, They had me taking liquid Hydrocodone which I hated the taste, and quickly switched to grinding pills and mixing it with applesauce with a little sugar. I was able to switch to Motrin just 3 days after surgery which handled the pain fine for me. You do lose feeling in your lower face right after surgery which helps with the pain a lot. Right out of surgery I was in some pain, I told the nurse it was an 8, so they gave me some Morphine which did make me sick, I threw up, but even that was not that bad. The worst pain I had was actually the IV medication going in. I didn't lose that much weight either because they really don't want you to as your body is trying to heal muscle and bone and needs the calories, so I only lost 8 pounds, but have kept 6 off.

    Posted 1 year ago #

  5. SLAGATHOR09
    Member

    Update! I've actually gained 4 pounds since I last checked! A hearty buck 42! Oh and Steph how is the swelling at 7 weeks out? just curious

    Posted 1 year ago #

  6. jware
    Member

    Hey guys!

    Thank you so much everyone for all your advice. I really feel as though I can do it now but I am still a little bit scared. I think the fact that I will be in hospital for three days after really makes me feel better than being at home.

    Steph and tom, I am also curious as to how your swelling is going now after your operations. Swelling hasn't been a big worry for me, I swelled heaps with my wisdom teeth but it didn't bother me I think for me its more the pain and discomfort!

    Thanks again!

    Jess

    Posted 1 year ago #

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