Hello.. It has been 11 days since I had double jaw surgery after presurgical orthodontic treatment for severe Class II malocclusion.
But my jaw keeps falling backward... I am worried and asking whether this is only happening to me, or whether other people have similar issues that improve as time passes.
(Discharge day, 2 days after surgery)
When I was discharged 2 days after surgery and had an X-ray taken, my bite was so off that it would not fit into the wafer (I think the difference between my maxilla and mandible was about 1 cm. That was about the difference before I had orthodontic treatment..)
At the time, the nurses taking the X-ray kept telling me to try moving my lower jaw forward to make it fit. But it still would not move forward, so the nurses forcibly pulled my lower jaw forward, placed the elastics, and took the X-ray.
After the X-ray, when they removed the elastics, my mandible moved backward again... The nurses said I needed to keep practicing moving my lower jaw forward.. that way, the jaw would not harden in that position. They said if I did not, I would never be able to eat food for the rest of my life.
(2-10 days after surgery)
After that, I kept practicing moving my lower jaw forward, and I was able to move my jaw to fit into the wafer.
But keeping it fitted in the wafer is not possible with moderate force; even normally, I have to clench my molars while applying tremendous force from the temporomandibular joint to the molars. And because my molars, temporomandibular joint, and the surrounding muscles hurt so much.. if I relax even a little, the mandible quickly falls backward again, and the difference between the maxilla and mandible becomes close to 1 cm..
The most painful part is when I fall asleep. When I lie down to sleep, whether I raise my head as high as possible or keep it low, my lower jaw keeps falling backward while I sleep.. because of gravity... When my lower jaw falls backward, the wafer does not bite together and I have to keep my mouth open.. because that is difficult, if I put a lot of force into my temporomandibular joint and molars, the part where the front side of the wafer bites together supports the gums and teeth as they are trying to move backward due to the gravity pulling them back.. so my front teeth and gums hurt, and the jaw near the molars also hurts continuously because I am keeping force there..
While sleeping, I cannot keep applying force continuously, so my lower jaw falls backward.. my mouth opens where it does not fit the wafer.. and I keep repeating sleeping in that state, waking up because it is difficult, and falling asleep again..
When I sleep like that and wake up in the morning, I cannot close my mouth, and the occlusal difference between the maxilla and mandible is again 1 cm... my mandible is set back by about 1 cm
Do other people experience this too?
Is this a problem everyone has during the early double jaw surgery period while the jaw is settling into position... or was my surgery done wrong?
I would appreciate advice based on the experience and knowledge of those who have gone through double jaw surgery before me
This review is a surgical review pursuing natural beauty.