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October 29, 2011 9:48 AM   Subscribe

I had a wisdom tooth extracted. Ten days later I still can't open my mouth more than an inch or two without experiencing pain. Is there anything I can do?

The extraction has healed fine and there's no infection or anything. I'm pretty sure I just pulled something in my jaw while opening my mouth under local anaesthetic.
posted by Memo to Health & Fitness (16 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
I think the first thing you should do is call the office where you had the tooth pulled and find out if this is a known complication and what they typically recommend as far as treating it. This will also give you a chance, if it turns out that this is rare and something to worry about, to set up a return to the office for a follow-up evaluation or get a referral to the proper place.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 9:51 AM on October 29, 2011 [2 favorites]


That doesn't sound normal; call your dentist. When I had all four of my wisdom teeth out I had no trouble opening my mouth all the way within a couple-three days.
posted by rtha at 9:53 AM on October 29, 2011 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: I went to the dentist a couple of days ago to get my stitches removed and he didn't seem surprised. He suggested me to practice opening my mouth with something warm in that side of my face, which admittedly I haven't done yet.
posted by Memo at 9:55 AM on October 29, 2011


It's not unheard of -- I had a wisdom tooth extraction with some complications years ago, and I was eating soup and yoghurt for more than a week after, despite the fact that there was nothing seriously wrong. My mouth and jaw just had a lot of reasons not to be healing particularly rapidly. There wasn't much to be done about it, other than wait for it to pass, unfortunately.
posted by EvaDestruction at 10:01 AM on October 29, 2011


I had exactly this experience. My surgeon, whom admittedly had a slightly crude sense of humor that I loved, said "Well, I don't want to speculate on your personal life, but I'm guessing we had your mouth open farther for longer than it's ever been before; it's probably just a sore muscle from being overstretched." Alternating heat and ice and gentle stretching solved the problem.
posted by KathrynT at 10:04 AM on October 29, 2011 [4 favorites]


Also, there is a big nerve that runs along your lower jaw, sometimes through the roots of the tooth. That might have gotten dinged.
posted by Vaike at 10:18 AM on October 29, 2011


Same thing happened to me.

Are you still taking painkillers? I couldn't deal with the painkillers the oral surgeon gave me, so I just went with aleve. (Obviously, if you are taking painkillers, don't take the aleve.)

But anyway, what I did was take an aleve and gently massage my jaw at my tempro-mandibular joint (the area in front of your ears) while trying to slowly open and close my mouth, a little bit at a time.

Do this for a minute or two whenever you have a minute or two to devote to jaw massaging, and it'll loosen up.
posted by phunniemee at 10:34 AM on October 29, 2011


My jaw became dislocated during wisdom tooth removal (the doctor had to pop it back into place before I could even close my mouth) and was quite sore for days after. It had never gotten dislocated before, so that's how much pressure was put on it during the process. The pain wasn't sharp or radiating as if from a nerve, just a soreness when I opened my mouth much. It ended up getting better on its own, but it did take a while.
posted by wondermouse at 10:40 AM on October 29, 2011


I had five impacted wisdom teeth removed surgically the summer before tenth grade and had exactly this problem for about two weeks. I was told my jaw was still swollen shut. Hot compresses (hot washcloths) applied to my jaw and gargling with saltwater helped a lot, as did gently stretching my mouth a little at a time.

I remember that the pain and frustration brought me to tears and had me wondering if I would ever again be able to open my mouth enough to eat solid food. It will get better soon.
posted by tully_monster at 10:40 AM on October 29, 2011


have you tried gently rinsing your mouth with warm salt water? I don't know if this is a thing that can be done for wisdom teeth removal, I know there is blah blah dry sockets blah blah. My mom's a dental hygienist and recommends rinsing with warm salt water for pretty much everything - strep throat? rinse with warm salt water. sinus infection? gargle with warm salt water. canker sore? warm salt water. broken leg? warm salt water. brain-eating zombies? warm salt water. And it works!

it's generally good for relieving pain and working on healing. But, I don't know if this is a thing you can do with this, because of dislodging blood and causing dry sockets. I dunno, ask oral surgeon if it's allowed?
posted by brave little toaster at 11:12 AM on October 29, 2011 [1 favorite]


This happened to me when I had my wisdom teeth removed. The surgeon recommended gently stretching a little bit more every day. This was accomplished by putting Popsicle sticks in my mouth like a lever to prop open my jaws and slowly adding sticks to the stack each day. I know it really sucks but it will get better.
posted by Lobster Garden at 11:44 AM on October 29, 2011


Definitely try the heat. I was told to do this exercise for stretching my jaw: press down with my index finger on my bottom teeth and up with my thumb on my top teeth and sorta twist while opening my teeth with them--hold it for a bit and open a bit more if it gets comfortable.
posted by zizania at 12:16 PM on October 29, 2011


Ibuprofen is a miracle cure for mouth pain. I had something really similar, and between salt-water rinses, warm-compresses and ibuprofen, it eventually went away. Took ages, but those three things helped more than anything else, including narcotics.

This message was approved by my mother, a dental assistant and overall mouth-pain specialist.
posted by guster4lovers at 2:23 PM on October 29, 2011


I had this same thing when I had my wisdom teeth removed. It was annoying as hell, and I had to use a toothbrush meant for babies to brush my teeth, but I did lose 10 pounds because all I could eat was soup and mashed potatoes. And it did go away eventually.
posted by MexicanYenta at 8:06 PM on October 29, 2011


The name for your symptom is 'trismus' and this is likely due to a problem with your TMJ. I had exactly the same problem after having my wisdoms out but it resolved with some exercises. I think if you google TMJ, isometric exercises and trismus you will find a number of suggested exercises.
posted by madokachan at 9:17 PM on October 29, 2011


Ibuprofen, taken on a consistent dosing schedule as indicated on the package, should provide you substantial relief.
posted by kamikazegopher at 4:15 PM on October 30, 2011


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