Broken Jaw – Recovery

A bit of a long shot I know, it’s not the commonest injury but a few mentioned “broken jaw” in the “worst injury you’ve suffered” thread a few weeks back..

..and when people have asked in the past about recovering from other injuries (eg collar bones) they’ve got good advice..

As some might remember* I came off at the end of March. Big long list of injuries including lower jaw fractured in two places: near the back (displaced) and front (not displaced).

They couldn’t operate on me for 2 days but they didn’t immobilise my jaw whilst I was waiting.

They fixed both fractures internally using titanium plates and screws.

Everything healing well in terms of the surgery, no infections etc. Still some pain but manageable.

I didn’t lose any teeth in the accident but did damage nerves. The accident and surgery also caused nerve damage which has led to me losing some sensation aound my chin and has affected my ability to smell and taste – although that seems to be improving a bit!

Main reason for asking: my ‘bite’ (technical term ‘occlusion’) was absolutely fine before and my teeth otherwise in good nick.

I’ve ended up though with a ‘malocclusion’ i.e my teeth don’t meet in the right places, my bite is all wrong, I’m limited with what I can eat and I’ve got difficulty speaking.

I’ve been back to the hospital a couple of times (for not such good follow-up) and my own dentist (thankfully the opposite – great advice and support).

His advice is that leaving things as they are is likely to cause more problems in the medium / long term – especially dental problems as the teeth will wear unevenly.

Options seem to be breaking and re-setting the jaw (problem being it’s more surgery and no guarantee things would be massively improved) or loads of dental / orthodontic work (problem is the dentist says, it’s not ‘one or two teeth’ that are in the wrong place and need moving it’s ‘only one or two teeth won’t need moving).

Like I said, long shot I know, and it’s one of those injuries that can be more complicated for some than others but I was wondering if anyone has any experience??

Bump, just in case 🙂

no experience but I’d be looking to find an alternate medical view outside of your current set of clinicians.

Even if it meant spending a few hundred quid on some private consultancy/x-rays/etc.

whoa harsh.

my personal experience of a broken jaw, following a simple operation to realign the bones, i had my jaw wired for some weeks and was on soft food for a while after that, but its one of the easiest recoveries.

sounds like you need to get yours fixed properly

I broke my jaw approx 15 months ago and still have occasional periods of numbness at the front of my face, its quite weird when you can pull hairs off your beard without feeling anything!
Like you it took a while to get operated on, but that was my own fault for not going to the hospital and trying to man it out. My teeth didnt feel right for the 1st few months, even when the swelling was reducing, but now its back to normal (or what I remember as normal) I’d check with the docs again, I had 2 or 3 further sets of x-rays whilst it was healing to check alignment and I’m sure they mentioned the possible need for further surgery if the teeth weren’t as they should be.
On the plus side I lost 4 inches off my waist whilst I was on soup…

I had quite a bit of orthodontic work when I was younger. Had 4 teeth out, then braces top and bottom, both fixed and then retaining plate (worn full time for about 1 year, then only at night). Took 3-4 years to move 6 teeth on top and 6 on bottom. The fixed braces are a bit painful / achey to begin with each time they change something (like when your wisdom teeth come through the jaw area aches, every 3 months for me) and the retaining plate is hell to keep clean (its difficult to eat with it in, like false teeth crap gets up behind it and you have to take it out and clean it) and also took a while to get used to speaking with it initially, but overall I don’t remember the experience being that bad. In comparison to your issues at present you probably wouldn’t notice it, but it does take time (years). The caveat is I was a teenager, so my teeth were newer, and they were my front teeth so easier to move around. (Although my back teeth also moved back to fill the gaps left by the removed ones, they seemed to move together so the occulsion wasn’t an issue.) With your molers, it might be harder to get them to align to their worn positions.

+1 on get a third opinion. Good luck.

Sympathy, I know how upsetting it can be when your teeth don’t quite meet up right. I’ve had a bit of dental work (got assaulted outside school by an ice cream seller) and have dislocated my jaw. The only thing I can say is that eventually things do settle down and you get used to the new alignment. Once all the swelling has gone a dentist will be able to make some small adjustments.

got assaulted outside school by an ice cream seller

😯

another orthapeadic opinion needed IMO

wwaswas – Member

“got assaulted outside school by an ice cream seller”

😯

Ice cream wars?

bombjack On the plus side I lost 4 inches off my waist whilst I was on soup…

LOL Yep, know exactly what you mean 🙂 Plus depressed appetite due to pain killers – I’ve lost 12kg!

Thanks all for the replies. Have talked again to dentist, plan to talk to GP and get a referral to another OMFS consultant,

A post op malocclusion is a recognised complication. Everything could have gone well with the reduction and fixation but it is not uncommon to have some sort of alteration to your bite.

If it is a slight malocclusion then you will get some spontaneous movements that may improve things with time.

The options are
1) live with it
2) orthodontics plus/minus orthognathic surgery. Most max-fac units are associated with a consultant orthodontist.

You may feel that neither are good options!

Lip/chin numbness can also improve 3-6 months post op.

bishbashbosh
If it is a slight malocclusion then you will get some spontaneous movements that may improve things with time.

The options are
1) live with it
2) orthodontics plus/minus orthognathic surgery. Most max-fac units are associated with a consultant orthodontist.

You may feel that neither are good options!

Thanks bbb, that’s helpful (believe it or not!)

Yes, mine is described as ‘slight’ (about 2mm?). Not even left and right, early contact left side at the back and ‘anterior open bite extending from premolars on left side to premolars on right side’ but I appreciate others live with much worse.

Tbh my initial thought was ‘live with it’ but as mentioned above dentist feels that might be likely to cause longer term problems.

As mentioned plan to talk to GP and get another referral but am not planning to rush straight off for more surgery.

I didn’t mention above that when I went back to see the Specialist Registrar she was more pre-occupied with congratulating herself on what a nice job they had done with my cheek bones! (I smashed them too, “Nice and symmetrical”)

*Plus this is on top of ongoing neurological problems associated with the spinal fractures I suffered at the same time, they’re more of a problem as their stopping me getting back on the bike still! (Another thread??)