My obturator is a huge headache. Literally. Every time I put it in, it gives me the sort of throbbing, radiating headache that I have to take 600 of ibuprofen to quell. It's extremely uncomfortable to wear for more than about six hours at a time.

Now, I understand that as I get used to it, it'll get less irritating, but at three weeks post-surgery, is this where I should expect to be? About when can I expect to be able to wear it for, say, twelve hours without pain?

And also, jaw stretching (I feel like this topic should have its own scary music):

I'm using the incredibly high-tech Stacked Tongue Blade Technique right now, along with heat and massage. And the occasional glass of wine.

How long will it be before I see consistent gains in my stretch? Every morning I wake up and my mouth is just as shut as it was before; it takes several minutes of passive stretching to loosen up. I seem to be holding at about 38 mm maximum (which my prosthodontist is unhappy about; presurgery I was at 55), but it's a struggle. Does it get any better in terms of holding gains?

I'm doing anywhere between five and ten sets a day of stretch-and-rest. I wasn't given a formal plan, so I start with the number of blades I used the day before and add one or two at a time, hold that for five minutes, then rest for three to five, then increase the stretch. Does that sound right?

My second career is going to be as the female Richard Simmons of jaw workouts. I had no *idea* this was going to be such a huge deal; thank you all for cluing me in the first time I came here and introduced myself.

Hey Johanne-

I can't address your obturator questions, but if you will look further down in this same forum topic there is a topic "trismus questions". There is a lot of information there about the lovely jaw stretches. I don't know what my initial measurement was, but after surgery I was only 20. After working with a physical therapist and the high tech tongue blades I am up to 30. I made a pretty detailed entry of exactly what my PT has me doing under "trismus questions," so you might find something in there that would be of some help.
It does seem like I can usually open less wide in the mornings.

Susan, thank you so much! Huzzah!

Johanne

For many of us here, 38mm would be wonderful. The standard test for trismus is whether you can stick the middle three fingers of your hand into your open mouth. I can't help you with stretching advice as after three years of daily jaw stretches, I'm only back to 28mm. It doesn't impact me much though due to my feeding tube.

Now the obturator headaches is another matter. I'm on my second one and my experience was that improper fitting was the cause of my headaches. Not sure how yours is held in place but mine has a wire hook on each side that snaps into grooves /channels drilled into the biting surfaces of my teeth. My prosthodontist had to adjust each of mine several times before getting it just right. I'm not talking big adjustments, just a twist of the wires or a dab of that fitting goo over top of a slight dip in the molded surface.
The point is that it should not hurt nor cause a headache and if it does, then it's a fitting issue. Just like you can make yourself "get used" to ill fitting shoes, but you end up with blisters, an ill fitting obturator doesn't resolve itself in my experience. My prostohdontist gladly saw me multiple times without extra charge to get my fittings right. He did ask me to wait a week but felt that if it didn't feel right by then, it wasn't ever going to without an adjustment
Charm

I had a lot of pain wearing the obturator for about six months. The worst pain was during the time I was having radiation. It hurt so bad to put it in in the morning, so I stated trying to sleep with it, my prothodontist informed me that things would not heal if I continued to do this, so I went back to taking it out at night. I used the "magic" mouth solution to numb my mouth several times throughout the day. Almost six months to the day, the pain and discomfort was gone.

As far as Trismus, I have never been able to open my mouth more than about a 21. It got so bad before I was given the therabite, that I was having trouble getting the obturator in and out.I now can barely get two fingers in my mouth and it appears this is as good as it is going to get. It does make eating interesting!
Sharon