I recently had Jaw Surgury, and now my whole face is numb! How do I stop drooling?

Question

Seriously. It's been about two weeks. My cheeks, chin, and my bottom lip is still numb. I can't feel it when I start to drool. I'm pretty sick of sticking a kleenex in my mouth all the time. And I'm also sick of people having to tell me when drool is running down my chin.

Anybody have any suggestions?

I did talk to my surgion. He said I should get feeling back in my lip soon. But I want to know what to do about the constant drooling!

Answer 1

This is very normal. Your face goes temporarily numb after this type of surgery. They warn you about this before surgery. Actually it helps with the pain though. My daughter had this problem and couldn't breathe out her nose. She lived for days with a box of kleenex in her hand and used up boxes and boxes of Q-tips as you cannot blow your nose or you blow the stuff into your face as they cut through the sinus cavities. She was a good nose picker with the Q-tips.

Time is what it is going to take honey. That's all I can say. In about 6 weeks you will be back to your old self. Hang in there and keep a kleenex in your hand and touch your mouth often. Plus try and swallow as much as you can but it is so hard I know. Are you wired shut or do you have rubber bands keeping your teeth together? Do you have that goofy splint? My daughter couldn't wait to get that thing out.

You can e-mail me.

Answer 2

The only thing that I can suggest is to place a cotton ball in between your cheek and gums. You should be able to make it fit without protruding too much. This will absorb more than the kleenex. I hope this helps.

Answer 3

Have you talked to your doctor about this? You should be way beyond any anesthesia by now. Did the surgeon possibly sever a nerve?

Answer 4

Yep sounds like the doctor cut a nerve, sue him now!

Answer 5

I don't want to be funny, but I had to say this. " Tie a bib around your neck".