For the first 24 hours following surgery avoid spitting, rinsing, kissing, drinking carbonated beverages or sucking/drinking from a straw. Avoid smoking for 72 hours after surgery.

Complete healing of the jaws can take between 9 and 12 months. As far as your appearance is concerned, any bruising that may occur will be gone after a few days. Swelling, however, takes longer to dissipate, but most will be gone after approximately two to three weeks.

So, it can be concluded that the jaw surgery procedure can indeed improve a person’s appearance because of a more balanced jaw structure, a proportional facial appearance, and of course a more beautiful smile, so that self-confidence increases.

The most common complaint after corrective jaw surgery is facial swelling. Patients can expect that their swelling will increase over the first 2-3 days after surgery. Once the swelling reaches a peak, it will take approximately 1-1.5 weeks for half of your swelling to resolve.

Sleep with your head elevated on two pillows or in a comfortable recliner chair for the first week following surgery. Numbness in the lower jaw and chin will occur after a lower jaw fracture or surgery and in the upper jaw and along the nose and lip following an upper jaw fracture or surgery.

Double-jaw surgery reduces the length and size of the entire face by putting the chin behind. This is the case where the center of face is long, so called ‘a horse face’. Double-jaw surgery can reduce the length of both the upper and lower parts and sometimes gum surgery is performed together.

Correcting alignment of your jaws and teeth with jaw surgery can result in: Balanced appearance of your lower face. Improved function of your teeth.

REMEMBER: It takes 6 to 8 weeks for initial healing of your jaw or jaws and 8 to 12 weeks for full bony healing. If the jaw is hit or bumped early after your surgery this may cause some shifting in the jaw or jaws and bite, resulting in another surgery to correct the shifting. So be CAREFUL.

Swelling can be minimized by keeping the cooling pad in place for 1–2 days after surgery. Swelling usually peaks on or about day 3 or 4. The swelling can be fairly dramatic after some jaw surgeries. We recommend that you keep your head elevated (on 2–3 pillows or in a recliner) for up to a week or so after surgery.