My partner just had orthagnathic surgery last night. Advice?

[Nothing Loud]

My husband has a severe underbite. It's grinding and wearing down his gumline, causing his gums to recede and bone loss/tooth looseness to happen. If he doesn't do this surgery he will lose his teeth, so we did it. We're finally in a state (WA) with insurance that covers the surgery (medical and dental usually reject doing it because neither of them want to own what they think is cosmetic maxillofacial surgery). It's still costing us $5k out of pocket, but at least it's not $50-100k if we had no insurance (where they wouldn't even bother).

This might even cure his sleep apnea.

This is what they do. They cut off (through) your top and/or bottom jaws from inside your mouth, teeth enclosed and everything, and then they reshape and reposition each jaw into a new position with a proper occlusion (you wear braces up to, during, and after the procedure guided by an orthodontist). If they need to lengthen any jaw, they may graft from a hip or a rib. Your new jaw and position is screwed into place and held by plates for life.

Since the surgery saws through bone, he's finished and awake now, but in severe pain.

He can't talk for like a week, he needs liquids for a week, has immeasurable pain (they are waiting to control his pain to discharge him from the hospital), and they're trying to control it before they discharge him.

It seems like the challenges with this surgery will be managing the pain and minimizing movement/use of the mouth.

Anybody else had this challenging/expensive surgery? Any advice or thoughts about how to provide comfort during his recovery?

Example of before/after surgeries from Google Images (I know, he looks like a serial killer lol):

Thanks!

 

[Deleted member 16908]

I've never heard of this surgery before but it sounds like hell. I wish your partner a swift and smooth recovery, and you good luck in caring for him.

 

[BossAttack]

Ow, sounds very painful.

 

[Terbinator]

JFC... I hate the dentist as is. I can't imagine how much pain/discomfort/worry he must have been going through to take up this option as an elective.

Wishing a speedy and pain-free as possible recovery.

 

[Faddy]

Great that he got the surgery.

An NFL writer had to get major jaw surgery on this scale and she wrote about her experiences.

Some Advice: Don't Need Major Jaw Surgery | Defector

I started crossing off the days to stay sane, marking the various checkpoints along the way but also keeping track of how long I can go without having a meltdown.

defector.com

 

[Ghost Rider]

My brother's wife had this done a couple years back. It is brutal but she is glad she had it done as it was giving her so much pain preciously

Unfortunately, when they were moving her from the OR they had an incident that caused the structure to shift/break and didn't catch that It caused an issue initially. She had to go back in for a repair some time after.

 

[Yoshimitsu126]

Did your partner try a mouth guard first? I paid 140$ for a mouth guard at the dentist (which insurance covered 80% so it's actually $700 and makes me think this is a scam). And I already see a visible scratch on my mouth guard from my teeth grinding.

I don't feel any pain from teeth grinding but apparently it's loud for people to hear even between walls. Should probably ask if people can still hear it with my mouth guard.

 

[Watevaman]

Yeah, I had a similar procedure about 10 years ago to help correct an open bite. Jaw was wired shut for about 6 weeks or so and I was on a liquid diet for a while after that.

Surprisingly my pain was minimal afterwards, so I can't really help with that part. My biggest issues came from vomiting after waking up (anesthesia makes me nauseous) and a blood booger keeping me from breathing through my nose. I thrived on homemade milkshakes and Ensure drinks. I definitely gained weight despite only having liquids, and I will say that all the warm/hot liquids I tried really sucked.

 

[fontguy]

Great that he got the surgery.

An NFL writer had to get major jaw surgery on this scale and she wrote about her experiences.

Some Advice: Don't Need Major Jaw Surgery | Defector

I started crossing off the days to stay sane, marking the various checkpoints along the way but also keeping track of how long I can go without having a meltdown.

defector.com

Click to shrink...

Worth noting this is a bit more severe than the typical bite correction surgery, since they had to strip out a lot of muscle and fully replace her jaw joints.

Like none of it's a walk in the park, but her case is definitely a step above.

 

[Nothing Loud]

He's at home now. He feels like he's drowning in blood. Has to spit every minute or so. Can't move his mouth much. Hasn't eaten in 48 hours. Can't swallow anything. Waiting for the surgeon to call back on what to do because even the oxycodone with a rinse in a syringe was difficult and painful. Looks like an awful surgery and they have to shave off a screw which broke off in his mouth later on Monday at the post op

 

[gozu]

i would stick with the sheet of post-op instructions the surgeon (hopefully) gave you. Ice might help, if it's allowed.

 

[Zen]

glad the surgery went well, wishing your partner a speedy recovery. Had no idea an underbite could cause sleep apnea

 

[echoshifting]

He's at home now. He feels like he's drowning in blood. Has to spit every minute or so. Can't move his mouth much. Hasn't eaten in 48 hours. Can't swallow anything. Waiting for the surgeon to call back on what to do because even the oxycodone with a rinse in a syringe was difficult and painful. Looks like an awful surgery and they have to shave off a screw which broke off in his mouth later on Monday at the post op

Click to shrink...

Oh my god poor guy :( :( :(

It will be worth it in the end but the recovery sounds hellish. Don't be afraid to ask directly for stronger painkillers. Is he allowed to ice his face? I've had a lot of surgery and sometimes that can be more helpful than painkillers, but it's not always a good idea so check first if they didn't specify.

 

[weemadarthur]

Don't eat chewable food in front of him.
Don't try to blend a steak.
Do have a waterpik for cleansing.
Do tolerate his mood no matter how pissy he is, for a good month.

 

[echoshifting]

Pureed soup is probably gonna sound really good in a few days, can he do that?

This East Indian spinach soup is super easy to make, filling, low ingredient, nutrient-rich and delicious:
-Cook 1 cup jasmine rice, set aside
-Boil 8 cups salted water
-Add 1 lb spinach - blanch for 2 min then drain
-Melt 4 T unsalted butter in soup pot over med. heat
-Add one onion, chopped, and 2 cloves garlic, minced, stir until translucent
-Add 1 cup of water, spinach, rice and a dash of nutmeg, simmer 15 minutes
-Blend until fine while adding salt to taste

Tomato soup might be good too, and tomato is a natural anti-inflammatory. Not sure what liquid diet means in this case, though. Ugh!

 

[Whales]

gonna be awful for like 1 month and then get better

but everyone who does this surgery has no regrets later, it is such a big boost ( aesthetically and physically)

get him some ensure packs he is gonna survive off of those for a while

 

[Ablacious]

You'll know your partner, but one thing I needed was alone time after being watched 24/7 for weeks. It was hard to convey to people at the time.

 

[seroun]

That looks.. impressively painful. I hope he can get proper medication for the pain and that everything heals properly :(

 

[Macam]

Oof, sorry to hear it amigo. My heart goes out to you and your husband.

My partner had to go thru a version of this for TMJ and it was an absolute nightmare. Just excruciating pain for a good month and even hard painkillers only brought it down a bit. I was buying lots of high quality bone broth from the local butcher shop to help with healing but that gets tiresome.

Oddly enough, CBD seemed to help the most (strong versions in liquid form), but you may want to run that by a doc first just in case (recent studies show cannabis can interfere with pre-surgery anesthesia and pain management).

 

[AlteredBeast]

That model looks pissed lol

 

[Volimar]

He's at home now. He feels like he's drowning in blood. Has to spit every minute or so. Can't move his mouth much. Hasn't eaten in 48 hours. Can't swallow anything. Waiting for the surgeon to call back on what to do because even the oxycodone with a rinse in a syringe was difficult and painful. Looks like an awful surgery and they have to shave off a screw which broke off in his mouth later on Monday at the post op

Click to shrink...

Oh that's terrible. I hope it gets under control soon.

 

[Stabi]

A friend did it too. He suffered like hell and could eat but liquid for weeks. Couldnt lay down due to the blood
But it was worth it according to the doctor. Now he's good and happy he did it

 

[RainbowIslands]

I had this a few years back (Just lower jaw, thankfully). Yea, it hurts so bad after day 2-3 for the first couple weeks once the anesthesia wears off and my face was as swollen as a balloon. Had to sleep upright for a few days and basically stare at the clock waiting for the next dose of painkillers. If you'd ask me if I'd do it now that I've been through it, I'd probably say nope because of the pain.

I had a lot of really soft and liquidy stuff (rice porridge, rice rolls and such) for the first few weeks. My mom started feeding me Ensure to make sure I have enough nutrients and (ironically) I got chubby after this. Ice packs help a little. If he's anything like me, he'll probably just want to stare at the ceiling and be quiet for the first couple weeks. He probably won't be able to sleep soundly but just be there for him.