Emma is a jaw surgery blogger who is about 3 months post op from her surgery. She was so kind to take a whole lot of questions and share a lot of insightful answers!
Read about her story below….Thanks Emma! (Check out her blog here).
1) What was your treatment plan?
When I was younger (primary school age), I was referred to my orthodontist by my dentist. I was told at this age that there was a possibility that I could require surgery to correct the alignment of my teeth/position of my jaw, but I would have to wait until i’d grow up so to speak, so that my face was fully developed to it’s ‘adult stage’ before they could accurately tell. During 2009 (at the age of 17) a letter came through my door referring me back to the orthodontist for a review. During this review, x-rays, moulds etc… were taken, which then followed a decision that I would require braces and I would require surgery if I wanted it. At this stage I agreed to a plan of braces for approx 6 month, followed by upper and lower jaw surgery, with aims in simple terms to move my bottom jaw forward, and my top jaw upwards. However, it was only during 2013 I was ‘ready’ for my operation, and in fact it was my turn on the list. During surgery, I underwent maxillary impaction, mandibular advancement and genioplasty.
2. How did you find your surgeon?
Because I live in the UK, the NHS covers my care so I did not find and select a specific surgeon, I was simply given one. However 6 weeks before my surgery I had a phone call saying if I changed surgeons, they had a date for me to go ahead with my op. I immediately took up this offer, although in honesty I incredibly nervous about having a different surgeon. When I met him however for a final review, it was by far the best decision I had made. He was caring and his attention to detail was outstanding, my happiness and safety was his priority and he ensured to plan my operation round what I wanted and not what he thought I should have. My advise if you do have the opportunity to find your own surgeon, is to make sure you find one that you can trust. This may sound silly as obviously you’re going to trust your surgeon, but it’s a big operation and you want to make sure whoever is doing it ensures your safety and happiness of outcomes is their priority!
3. You’ve had a supportive group of friends and family. How important were they in your recovery process?
Enormously! Luckily I had my boyfriend, my friends and my family by my side every step of the way. Without them, I don’t think I would have been able to undergo this surgery, or even survive post-op! During the first few weeks they were there to care for me, prepare my food, make sure I took my meds etc… but they also acted as a massive emotional support. When you’ve undergone a change so drastic on your face, you question and worry about everything – this is normal but my paranoia of things going wrong/not looking right began to drag me down, so it was great to have my support group there just to let me know that everything was going okay! I also had a massive fear of my jaw relapsing everytime I woke up, I was constantly checking with them that it hadn’t – without them I would have gone insane!
4. For someone who thinks they need jaw surgery, do you have any advice for them?
I’ve always said that if the position of your teeth/how they meet together, or just your overall confidence is hindered because of the need to undergo jaw surgery – then go for it. The little things make you happy in life and jaw surgery has definitely made me happier. It’s improved my confidence, and I just feel 110% better about my side profile. I don’t mind looking at side profile pictures of myself anymore, nor do I mind people looking at me from the side. Before my surgery, I was extremely self conscious about my set back lower jaw and my gummy smile, so i always tried to hide this the best I could. You also don’t realise what a ‘normal jaw/teeth alignment’ feels like – everybody else takes this for granted. Until this is fixed for you, you can’t enjoy the pleasures that everybody else has. Simple things like chewing – i’ve recently started to chew, and let me tell you, having all of your teeth meet feels like you’ve got a real life blender in your mouth!
5. Which part of your recovery was the toughest? Was it the post-op pain immediately following surgery or the slower recovery process of adjusting to the changes?
Every week (and sometimes everyday) bought a tougher challenge. If i’m honest the pain never bothered me too much. Jaw surgery isn’t that painful – of course you will experience pain, somedays more than others but aslong as you stay ontop of your pain medication then you’ll be okay. For me personally, it was more the uncomfyness that I felt post-op. I remember day 3 when I was discharged home, I lost my suction that I had in hospital, so I began to drool constantly. A few days later I was incredibly fed up of my liquid diet. I’m not going to lie, this is probably one of the toughest parts for me. I enjoy a nice meal, and ontop of this I enjoy chocolate. Having this taken away and being restricted to liquid was so challenging in itself. I got fed up of the taste, the texture and simply having to eat it through a syringe!
As the weeks gradually came, and my swelling started to go down, I started to worry about my apperance. It took me a very long time to adjust to my new face. I still can’t 100% say that i’m used to it even now. My boyfriend however told me something which has stuck with me; “Your old face was your face for the past 21 years of your life, this new face is only a couple of weeks old.” So in essence, when you change something you’ve grown up with, and you’ve been used to for the entirety of your life – it’s going to take a while to adjust. But you will, very slowly! 🙂
6. Did you take any supplements to aid in your recovery?
Nope, I didn’t take anything. I let my body naturally heal. I did however pre-op take vitamin and iron tablets as my blood is known for being low with iron – if this was the case they wouldn’t have gone ahead with my op so I didn’t want to risk it! One thing I did use however during my recovery stages was arnica cream. It was quite expensive for a little tube, but I applied it 2x daily and it brought all of my bruising out instantly, rather than it coming out on itself very slowly. Yeah, I looked incredibly black and blue, but a week later I was bruise-free!
7. Because of the limited diet, did you stick with a favorite food?
I wouldn’t class any food as ‘favourite’ during my restricted diet, especially during the liquid stages. I did try to blend things like vegetables, but they don’t taste very nice blended so I just stuck with soup. I also managed to get yogurt down a syringe, and even more amazing jelly! I had to take apart the syringe and spoon it in, but it was amazing, because I was actually tasting something that was a different texture – and as the texture it was supposed to be!
One thing I would recommend is a high calorie drink such as ensure. I was prescribed these post-op, but I refused to drink them. They were thick and I really didn’t like the taste. However day 4 my energy plummeted and my parents forced me to drink one of these a day. I wish I had taken them sooner because they really did give me that little boost of energy which I needed!
8. A lot of patients have wondered how soon after surgery they can take care of themselves. Do you have any timeline suggestions?
I’d say around the 3-4 week mark. Your energy is still pretty low, but alot better than it was immediately post op. I could have probably taken care of myself sooner if I had forced myself to, but I appreciated the help of my family and friends while they were around! I know some people who have gone back to work only 1 week post op however, so I guess everybody is different!
9. When did most of your swelling subside?
Most of my swelling had disappeared around the 6 week mark. Anything after this gradually (and I mean incredibly slowly) started to go down. The last few bits of swelling can take upto 6 months to disappear, and sometimes longer! Waiting for it to go down is incredibly frustrating and a massive waiting game, but I guess it’s inevitable. I never really noticed my swelling personally. I didn’t look at myself in the mirror and think ‘boy i’m swollen!’ but others definately did. Looking back on the photos I can see it more now, but personally I didn’t. My family and friends were great around this stage because when I complained I looked round in photos, they were able to remind me that I am still swollen, and they were also able to point out where the swelling was! I’m around the 12 week mark now however and I still feel as though I have a slight bit of puffyness in my cheeks!
10. If you experienced any shooting pains from nerves regenerating, do you have any recommendations on how to cope?
The first few weeks nerve generation comes in the form of tingles or pins and needles. They feel incredibly tickly and sometimes you need to itch them, but with being numb you actually aren’t satisfying this itch, so this is annoying in itself. At this stage they didn’t bother me too much, I just turned it into a positive in thinking that atleast my face is showing signs that it is starting to wake up.
Around the 8 week mark (and even now) i’ve started to get painful nerve regeneration. Again this is normal, but when you touch certain areas of my face that are still slightly numb like my lower lip, it will create a sensation that I can’t bare and i’ll have to pull away. This is the most annoying nerve regeneration that I have found, but again there i not alot I can do about it. I just avoid touching these areas as much as possible!
11. What do you tell people that don’t know how to explain to their friends and family that the surgery is a major procedure and not cosmetic?
When people ask me why i’m having jaw surgery, I always do approach the thing that it does have cosmetic benefits too – because it does. Personally, I doubt I would have undergone jaw surgery if it had no cosmetic benefits and it was all purely to allign my teeth. But when I do tell them that it is cosmetic AND beneficial because I can then have teeth that meet properly, I usually get the answer ‘thats vein’ or ‘is that on the NHS then.’ To some people it probably is vein, but then they don’t understand what it is like to have an incredibly gummy smile or set back lower jaw that you’re so paranoid of it hinders your confidence. I truly believe that people should be able to feel 110% confident about their image and I didn’t – so that’s why I underwent the surgery.
12. Have you noticed a change in the way people treat you post-surgery? And if so, how do you deal with those changes?
I haven’t noticed a change at all. Nowadays, people have completely forgotten i’ve even had the surgery – they’re so used to the new me they forgot what the old one looked like!
13. Recovery isn’t always so serious. Do you have any funny stories to share that happened post-op?
I have many funny stories which usually followed with lots of pain! My stitches under my top lip became so sore everytime I smiled, so laughing was a nightmare. I remember one time, my mom and my boyfriend were in the kitchen preparing another liquid meal in a syringe. For some reason, pressure built up in the syringe, and my boyfriend pushed it, the syringe exploded and hit my mom! A similar thing also happened with pressure building up when it was in my mouth once, it exploded and I got yogurt EVERYWHERE! All over my face, up my nose – it was hilarious!
14. Smiling seems to be an odd and surprising challenge for most jaw surgery patients. Have you been practicing or has it come naturally? Do you feel that your current smile is at “full strength” or is it still a work in progress?
I wouldn’t say that my smile is full strength, because when I do smile, it still feels a little tight or different in a few places. It’s not something that I can explain but it’s just there. I remember the early days when I took a picture of me smiling, I scared myself. I felt I looked like a joker and it was a freaky looking smile. I couldn’t understand at all why I couldn’t smile. But slowly as the swelling subsided (and surprisingly the stitches fell out) I lost the cotton ball feeling that I had on the inside of my gums and smiling gradually improved!
15. You can now open 3 fingers wide! Any jaw exercises that you can share with us?
In honesty I haven’t been given that many exercises to do! My ortho just advised me to ‘stretch’ and that was it. I’ve hit the 3 fingers wide but I don’t feel like it’s improving anymore, so I will definately get more guidance from my surgeon or ortho on my next visit. What I have been doing though is just attempting to move my jaw side to side. When the bands are out I also open my mouth as wide as I can, then using my fingers, I stretch it open that little bit wider and then hold this for 10 seconds. Lately my muscles have been hurting – so i’m hoping that it is finally working that little bit more! But as I said, i’ll get more guidance on my next visit and share more stretches with you! 🙂
16. Do you feel that it was worth it?
Definitely! Jaw surgery is incredibly challenging emotionally and psychologically. But within a few months you’re pretty much back to normal – and what’s a few months of discomfort for a lifetime of happiness! 🙂
Double Jaw Surgery 