Tony, trismus is something you must contiue to fight everyday. Keep doing the exercises and use the tongue depressors several times per day. If you take a hot wash cloth and place on your face before you stretch, it will help loosen the jaw muscles. Since it is painful, take pain meds prior to exercising too.

My doc advised me to stay away from botox since that is just a shot that paralyzes muscles.

There are a couple devices that are on the market to help with stretching your mouth open. Problem is that your trismus is so bad you probably couldnt get the device into your mouth.

Try using what hospitals give to patients to get a tiny bit of water into their mouths. Its like a piece of foam on a stick. Thats what I have used for years to clean my mouth. Its called Toothette Oral Care (disposable oral swab). I found the product on Amazon.com. If you order it thru the OCF forum link, then OCF gets a small kickback. Here is the link.

http://www.amazon.com/Toothette-Min...&s=hpc&qid=1279713016&sr=8-4