Metal Mouth Message Board

I know everyone has different pain tolerance and there is different jaw procedures but I wanna individual opinions

How much does it what?

How much does jaw surgery hurt compared to wisdom teeth removal?

The two don't even compare. I had little to no pain from jaw surgery (lower jaw, BSSO only) but having my wisdom teeth pulled had me in pain for the better part of a week. I was taking hydrocodone twice a day after my wisdom teeth extractions, I barely had to touch the tylenol + codeine I was given for jaw surgery.

I imagine surgery being way worse than wisdom teeth

[quote="EWUgal15"]How much does jaw surgery hurt compared to wisdom teeth removal?

The two don't even compare. I had little to no pain from jaw surgery (lower jaw, BSSO only) but having my wisdom teeth pulled had me in pain for the better part of a week. I was taking hydrocodone twice a day after my wisdom teeth extractions, I barely had to touch the tylenol + codeine I was given for jaw surgery.[/quote]

How long did it take you to back to school?

I took 3 weeks of medical leave from work, then worked from home for 2 before a week of vacation. Being rubber banded shut and swollen made it difficult to be understood, so I did my best to minimize speaking. I could easily have gone back to the office after 3 weeks but didn't want to deal with weird looks from bruising and swelling.

Pain wise neither were painful in the slightest, of course double jaw surgery is incomparably more inconvenient and the recovery far far more time consuming, but in terms of pain I didn't experience any. I'd say double jaw surgery is far more 'uncomfortable', especially in terms of breathing. During my stay in hospital I had a panic attack due to the considerable restriction in breathing cause by being banded shut with a splint, swollen, and unable to breath through my nose, which bled on an ongoing basis for about a week. This wasn't a good idea, as when you panic you tend to breath harder, which aggravated the situation, and caused my nose to bleed more profusely.

My only advice is the same as that espoused by the Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy:

'Don't Panic!'

Hi Mart,

This is slightly unrelated to the specifics of this discussion, but based on your response in this discussion, could you post a reply to my thread here: http://www.archwired.com/phpbb2/viewtop ... 15&t=49677

Post-double jaw surgery breathing is a major concern of mine. I know most people say that they somehow get through it and it slowly gets better, but it seems like the impossible to me at this stage (pre-surgery) to think about how long and agonizingly uncomfortable that has to be.

Did your surgeon provide any advice or ways to help?

Thanks!

i feel like jaw surgery will be more taxing on the body if anything.

I just had jaw surgery 7 days ago. NO PAIN, really.
At least for me.
It's "uncomfortable" but not painful, why? the doctors said that when the jaws are operated on the nerves are moved or something (that's why so much numbness after the surgery)
and for this reason there's very little pain. If you have pain, well they give you strong pain killers.

The difficult part of jaw surgery is not the pain, but the arduous work you have to do to heal.
It's a different lifestyle you'll be having, eating differently, cleaning like 6 times a day (in the beginning at least), etc.

On day 7 the only discomfort I have is my lips are chapped and the inside is tender because the wires are pushing on my skin when the mouth is closed.
Energy levels went back to normal ( I drank a lot of juices, ate and drank a lot of water)

Actually there's a magical thing the body has, and that's getting used to things.
I already got used to eating this way and if you're a good cook with a great blender well...plenty of delicious food to blend!

My recommendation is this; do exactly as the tell you. Don't be shy to look at your face, at the inside of your mouth.
If there's no pain, who cares! if there's some, take the pain killers they give you. BUT, CLEAN your mouth, DRINK A LOT OF LIQUIDS, PROTEIN.

For me, jaw surgery was a 10 compared to wisdom tooth removal. I had pain despite numbness. I've had 15 surgeries at least in my lifetime and jaw surgery was definitely the most difficult recovery I've ever gone through.

In terms of pain I felt I had more pain for my wisdom teeth removal. I'm three weeks out from jaw surgery and I still feel nothing. Post surgery I did not have a single dose of pain killer (not even paracetamol). I'm sure when I'm less numb I'll ache and such but I feel nothing. For my wisdom teeth I felt pain about 4 hours later.

In terms of inconvenience and discomfort, jaw surgery is about a 10 for me. It's been three weeks and while most people report they were able to sleep through the night by week 2 I still have not yet been able t do this. Also not being able to eat enough (and eat what you want) to recover your strength really puts a damper on things mentally. Even though I say this though, if I asked whether or not I would do it again, my answer would still be yes.