Jaw surgery is a major surgery which can disrupt your life for months or several weeks.
The recovery time for jaw surgery is around 6 to 8 weeks.
For more complicated jaw surgery, the initial healing phase can last about six to eight weeks. Complete healing of the jaws can take between 9 and 12 months.
Jaw surgery can be very effective for treatment of breathing problems, snoring and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).
In fact, recent studies have shown that orthognathic surgery has more than a 90% success rate when treating sleep apnea patients.
There are variations of orthognathic/jaw surgery.
You will be completely numb on the jaw that was operated on, so there is not a great amount of pain.
Although, the swelling starts up immediately and there is some jaw stiffness to be anticipated.
There is some soreness from the breathing tube that the anesthetist places and this soreness will also subside with time.
Your jaws will be wired together approximately six to eight weeks.
This is the time it takes for the bones to heal in a good, strong union.
The corrective jaw surgery can have adverse side effects like numbness, loss of hearing, extreme pain, and increased drooling.
Moreover, corrective jaw surgery is ten times more expensive than non-surgical treatments for correcting malocclusions.
As with any surgery, there is a risk of complications with jaw surgery, so it is important to consider the risks of jaw surgery versus the benefits before embarking on any procedure.
However, when performed by experienced specialist surgeons using the latest planning and surgical techniques, the risks of long-term issues are low.
After the jaw surgery, you will likely experience some pain and swelling.
You may have black eyes, bruises, and swelling.
Your face will also look different because of the jaw surgery.
All of these are normal and will go away after a few weeks.
You will also likely have elastics on between your upper and lower teeth.
Talking may be frustrating for you, especially with elastics on, but you will not hurt anything by talking.
You may want to write on a tablet or whiteboard to communicate during the first few days after the jaw surgery.