Jaw Surgery, Tuesday, July 23-All You Ever Wanted to Know

This is right before I was hauled back to the operating room. I had my own professional photographer (Mario) who thoroughly documented the event, and he was blown away by the beautiful hat from Cheshire Medical's Wardrobe Unit. 

For those of you who are curious, and I really don't have anything better to do at the moment than write all about my experiences of late, I had surgery for TMJ ( Temporomandibular Joint Disorder). 

Temporomandibular disorders (TMD) occur as a result of problems with the jaw, jaw joint and surrounding facial muscles that control chewing and moving the jaw. These disorders are often incorrectly called TMJ, which stands for  temporomandibular joint. (http://www.webmd.com/oral-health/guide/temporomandibular-disorders).

Symptoms include (and I will only include those that apply to me): 

• Pain or tenderness in the face, jaw joint area, neck and shoulders, and in or around the ear when you chew, speak, or open your mouth wide
• Limited ability to open the mouth very wide
• Clicking, popping, or grating sounds in the jaw joint when opening or closing the mouth (which may or may not be accompanied by pain) or chewing
• A tired feeling in the face
• Difficulty chewing or a sudden uncomfortable bite – as if the upper and lower teeth are not fitting together properly
• Other common symptoms of TMD include headaches, neck aches, earaches, hearing problems, upper shoulder pain, and ringing in the ears (tinnitis).  (http://www.webmd.com/oral-health/guide/temporomandibular-disorders).

The above is why I had to have surgery. As the surgeon explained to me, it is a quality of life issue. Yes, I probably could have lived with it, but I would have been living with a LOT of pain for the rest of my life.

The procedure involved cutting both my cheek bones to pull the top jaw forward. The cuts were made at the top of my upper gum line so there is no outward evidence of such an invasive procedure. He also stretched my upper lip otherwise it would have been too tightly attached to my gums?? My face is still numb-8 days removed--and parts of it will be numb for months. He also cut a nerve on the right side of my face that will regenerate, but in the interim, it causes twitching in my face which is annoying and itches. My palette and upper teeth are still numb-8 days removed.