I had my two week check-up with my surgeon yesterday and I found out some bad news! I am not allowed to take out my plastic splint for 4 more weeks! I cannot talk much with it in my mouth so it's incredibly annoying. Not only that, I started working from home today so I'll be returning to the office next week. Talking to people in the office will be almost impossible so my intention is to wear a mask around the office. The splint was a lot smaller than I expected when I took it out, but it feels so gigantic in my mouth.
The surgeon took off my tight bands shutting my mouth and replaced them with loose ones so today was the first day I could open my mouth. What a relief! I get to eat soft foods now! It feels so weird when I take out the plastic splint and close my mouth. My teeth don't feel a part of my body yet. I am allowed to take the bands and splint off to eat and brush my teeth. My toothbrush still doesn't fit in my mouth so I'm not able to clean the inside of my teeth well, but just being able to properly brush my teeth feels amazing! I've been eating a ton of softs foods since yesterday morning and it feels so nice not to have to carry around a bottle of protein shakes.
The swelling has gone down but it's still there. I am finally starting to see a different face that everyone's been talking about. The shape of my face obviously changed, and I no longer have a protruding and uncentered jaw. It's definitely something I have to get used to seeing in the mirror though. I feel like my new jaw makes me look like I have a rounder face, so I'm excited for my swelling to go down even more so I don't look like I have a full cheek.
When I take out the splint and close my mouth, I can tell that there is some interference with some of my teeth, so I know my orthodontist will have to move my teeth around after I am done with the surgeon. My surgeon also requested that I get a new set of lateral ceph x-rays so I will need to get those before the next appointment.
My old invisalign retainer case is coming in handy because it comes with a mirror. While I eat, I can put my splint and bands in the case, and when I'm done, I can use the mirror to put them back in. The bands will take a few tries to hook in right so the first time it took me like 20 minutes. My jaw is still feels loose and can easily shift, so I like to keep my splint in as much as possible. Last night my jaw was tight again from moving it too much, but that was kind of expected. This week isn't necessarily for your jaw rehabilitation, it's mainly just so that you can get off your liquid diet. Rehabilitation starts next week with my surgeon.
Take-Away:
1) Splint stays for whole duration of recovery: 6 weeks
2) Mushy foods!
3) Retainer case handy.
4) Starting to realize new face
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