NHS Jaw Surgery

Heya guys thanks for the food advice its helped a lot. Mum made some mash but runny mash with cheese. I am using a tiny tiny spoon it makes it easier to eat things. Will try some of the things you have all suggested ... Main problem is getting frustrated when eating its taking soooo long to eat. My stitches are really annoying me today!!! On the plus side swelling already going so looking good. Just very inpatient :/

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You must be so pleased your swelling is going down already I bought my complan powder today, my surgery is getting so close! thank you for posting about your experiences, it has been reassuring to read! Did you have a morning op or afternoon, and how long did you have to wait? good luck with your recovery!

When you do find it easier to eat more solid foods, macaroni can be quite good to start with too - it's smaller than a lot of pasta and you can get away without chewing it if you have to. It's just getting to that point where you can open your mouth wide enough to get anything in it, and it is very frustrating!

Yer thanks tht sounds good. I can open my mouth quite far as it wasn't banded shut etc but its just making sure it doesn't slop down my face with my fat lip lol. And at the moment my stitches are really hurting so I'm not wanting to eat much. But once the pain starts to decrease will defo try that. Just wondering when is it okay to start eating warm things? And when did you start to eat something not completely pureed? Thanks so much x

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Warm things I would say as soon as you want to, unless they said anything to you about it? I was drinking tea from the day I got home anyway, and soup from a few days later I think. I can't remember when I first started to eat non-pureed foods - possibly about 3 weeks later, although I did have my jaw banded shut so it may be earlier for you.

And yes, my jaw was numb for a good few months afterwards so I can relate to having to be careful about eating and not slopping it!

Did they mention anything to you about gargling warm salt water?

Heya oh okay they just said no hot stuff for a while.. oh didn't realise 3 weeks for nothing pureed :/ seeing my orthodontist on Wednesday so will talk then. Think I need to stop rushing into things. Yer I know about the warm salt water. How oftern do you do that they never said? Thanks

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How much does the surgery cost if not on the NHS?

18-24 Months of Braces?

Then how long after the surgery to completely recover?

Hey
I had double jaw surgery (top and bottom) just over 3 weeks ago!! For the first few days i just stuck with trying to have as many of the special milkshakes that they give you but pretty soon i got bored of them.
After about half a week i started to get my mum to put some plain complan powder (can get it at tesco's&sainsburys or just pharmacies) into soup in order to make it give you more calories etc and then blend it and heat it for 30 seconds or so in the microwave. You can also get other flavours like chicken that you just add water/milk too that are okay. So you can have like minestrone soup with the noodles and things but blend it and then i drink it out of a bottle that you can squeeze. The Yazoo or Mars drinks bottles are really good because you can just lie back and squeeze the drink. Also try thin custard and thin semolina again in a squeezy bottle!!
I also discovered that any juices that come in cartons are genius cause i still can't suck from a straw but with these you just lie back and squeeze them and the liquid will just seep through. And frubes are good too because i found a small gap in my teeth and then just squeezed and hoped for the best.
Anyway, good luck with your recovery and if you want to know anything feel free to inbox me or just ask my questions here

Hello I just had double jaw surgery on Tuesday, and was hoping I could ask you about some stuff. Did you get your nose blocked up with blood clots and how long did they take to leave? How long did you take pain killers after the surgery? And when did you start sleeping on your side? Sorry about all the questions and thank you :P

Hello I just had double jaw surgery on Tuesday, and was hoping I could ask you about some stuff. Did you get your nose blocked up with blood clots and how long did they take to leave? How long did you take pain killers after the surgery? And when did you start sleeping on your side? Sorry about all the questions and thank you :P

I'm not sure if you did but I had breathing tubes up my nose during the surgery but they took them out before I woke up. This meant that in the first 5 days or so everytime I walked up the stairs or sat upright I had nose bleeds which was really inconvenient but they literally lasted 2 mins max but this did happen quite a lot during each day when I wasn't lying down. So I did end up with a lot of dried blood in my nose but after a week I cleaned it really well with a cotton wool bud in warm water and it cleaned really easily and I wish I'd tried it sooner so I'd recommend that when you feel up to it.

I had morphine injections at the hospital along with all my other drugs but once I came home I took small codeine tablets that you swallow (nightmare at first) and liquid paracetamol but I stopped the codeine after 1 week and had the liquid paracetamol for a further week or so but just when I needed it. And I was given this green numbing mouth wash that was really useful!! I found that it's best to keep on top of meds so you take the meds before the pain sets in again-worked a treat.

It's been way over 4 weeks now since my surgery and I literally only just started sleeping on my side about a week ago but I'd say try not to because it does slow down the reduction of your swelling so I'd recommend trying to sleep upright on your back for as long as you can.

Good luck with your recovery and ask me anything you'd like. Each day you feel a lot better and once you're able to talk a little get friends to visit and things else you soon get really bored and fed up. I actually look like a normal person again and I'm sososo glad I had it done so just keep going

I did have the breathing tube. My friends are already visiting and it is lovely to have them over and I was thinking about making a quilt to occupy myself Thank you so much for the advice on the nose; I spent and hour and used 36 cotton buds cleaning it earlier and it feels so nice! haha I'm really glad I had it done too - it's only been a week and I feel pretty close to normal already How much feeling do you have back?

Making a quilt sounds like a good idea to keep yourself occupied, just don't try and do too much as I did have a couple of almost fainting situations which wasn't fun. Also I'm not sure if you are a driver but if you are wait a couple of weeks until you can really move your neck well cause I had a few issues at first and it just made my neck really hurt.

At first I could barely feel anything from under my eyes to the bottom of my neck but now I have almost full feeling back in my top lip and cheeks but my bottom lip and chin are still slightly numb but I have much more feeling in them than I did at first. The roof of my mouth and gums are still relatively numb as well but that doesn't really bother me apart from the fact that I can't spit toothpaste out still haha. Have you tried drinking out of a cup yet? Cause once you can do that everything to me seemed like much less effort.

I didn't ever stop drinking from a cup?! I had water in a cup about 2 hours after I woke up, and Weetabix with a spoon the next morning! My numbness is mainly just under my eyes- but I have complete feeling in both lips and gums and everything I think my recovery is going really quick! The thing I find most frustrating is how quickly I get really tired

I actually cannot believe that!! I couldn't feel my face from my eyes down and couldn't open my mouth. Were you not wired shut? It took me weeks and I was on a strictly liquid diet for 4 weeks and wasn't even allowed to have weetabix hmm maybe our surgerys were a bit different. Did you stay overnight in hospital?

I'm still not allowed to eat proper food until my bones have healed so another 2 weeks yet :/ Sounds like you're doing amazingly well!! I physically couldn't stand up on my own or walk on my own for 5 days else I'd just faint so it sounds like your doing really well. Just don't push yourself too much!!

I was going to be wired, but when the surgeon came to see me afterwards he said the bite was perfect and didn't need wires or elastics! I am only allowed liquids and purées for 6 weeks, but it has been quite interesting seeing what happens to various foods in the blender haha I had to stay one night in the end (it was meant to be two but I was doing so well they let me leave ) I had the operation where they break your jaw in four different places and then move the jaws to fix an under bite, is that close to what you had? My surgeon and orthodontist have been really surprised at how quick I'm recovering!

Wow, you're very lucky haha I was told I wasn't allowed pureed food until the 4 week mark which was only a couple of weeks back but it just shows how everyones recovery is slightly diffferent. The wiring shut was horrible so you're very lucky about that too. I am very jealous haha!!

Yeah I agree about the blender thing but the idea of meat in a blender really put me off even though I was craving it so much!! Yeah I think that sounds very close to what I had But my midlines were slightly off hence why I have these pain-in-the-backside elastics that go right across the front of my mouth. But it'll all be worth it in the end!!