 Administrator, Director of Patient Support Services Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts)
Joined: Jun 2007 Posts: 10,507 Likes: 7 | I also suffer from trismus. I went to a physical therapist who greatly helped me increase the width of my mouth opening. She would place very warm towels on each side of my jaw for about 20 minutes then do the exercises. Ive found the most success with stacking tongue depressors on each side of my mouth and continuing to add more til it hurts. I had two more rounds of OC so I stopped seeing my physical therapist. The person I saw had experience with other oral cancer patients, most do not.
Unfortunately the only way to fix trismus is lots of work and pain. Its one of the after effects of radiation. Ive asked my ENT and oral surgeon if surgery would help correct the trismus and both have told me no, its scar tissue from radiation.
Keep up the exercises and best of luck with seeing improvement.
ChristineSCC 6/15/07 L chk & by L molar both Stag I, age44 2x cispltn-35 IMRT end 9/27/07 -65 lbs in 2 mo, no caregvr Clear PET 1/08 4/4/08 recur L chk Stag I surg 4/16/08 clr marg 215 HBO dives 3/09 teeth out, trismus 7/2/09 recur, Stg IV 8/24/09 trach, ND, mandiblctmy 3wks medicly inducd coma 2 mo xtended hospital stay, ICU & burn unit PICC line IV antibx 8 mo 10/4/10, 2/14/11 reconst surg OC 3x in 3 years very happy to be alive  | 
