I had a lower wisdom tooth extracted and cant open my mouth all the way?

Question

I had my tooth extracted yesterday and I can barely open my mouth to eat. How long does it usually take before you can open your mouth up? I can barely eat. There is no pain just limited jaw movement.

Well I went back to the dentist. He said I have lockjaw or TMJ. put me on muscle relaxers and 800 milligrams of ibuprofen a day. Didnt say when I could open it but to exercise my jaw . If in 2 weeks i am still like this i will find me another dentist.

Answer 1

I was in the same boat as Kier22_2 when I had my wisdom teeth removed. Since it's only been a day I wouldn't worry too much but if a few more days pass and you are still unable to open your mouth up you'll have to do it manually. Right now there's probably no pain because you are still on meds right? When the meds wear off or run out, trust me, there will be pain. My muscle spasms were so painful that I was in tears most of the time.

Here's what you do, get a stack of tongue depressors from your dentist, stick a few in your mouth (enough so that the depressors hold your mouth open slightly more than you can on your own) and leave them there for 5 minutes, then add another depressor. Repeat this until you have enough depressors in your mouth to open it up to it's normal wideness.

The process will be a little painful but it's worth it. My dentist described my dilemma as a "charlie horse of the mouth". Basically, when you get a charlie horse in your leg it's best to stretch out the muscle to alleviate the pain, the same applies here. You won't get rid of the pain until the muscle gets properly stretched out.

Like I said before though, this is only the day after your surgery so I wouldn't worry about it too much, your mouth should just open back up on it's own in a few days. But if it doesn't, take my advice and stretch your mouth back open yourself.

Good luck!

Answer 2

Two factors are causing the problem. The first is inflamation in the area caused by healing of the extraction site . This causes swelling of the deep tissues in the area . Secondly ,during the extraction procedure the jaw is often over extended for a long period of time which causes straining of the muscles and tendons in the area . It's a little like having a sprained ankle but involving the muscles of mastication . Time will heal ,but a couple of Ibuprofen pills 3x a day will help with the inflammation and gentle stretching of the jaw will work the sprain out faster .

Answer 3

I really think you should get an answer from the dentist or whatever professional extracted the teeth. I feel you shouldn't feel like this still after 3 weeks, but they may have an answer to it. If you're not happy, find someone to give you a second opinion.

Answer 4

It'll take a few days. Pulling a tooth is the same as breaking or cracking a bone. There is swelling involved. It might not necessarily show on the outside but, joint movement will be limited for a few days.

Answer 5

I had the same thing happen to me. It's called Muscle Trismiss (sp). I had a really weird reaction to it though & ended up in the hospital. I was having painful muscle spasms too.
My Doctor had me put as many tounge depressers as I could in my mouth to stretch my jaw. (I was like this a month)
Then I would add more in the middle until my jaw could open normally. Mine was a freak thing but I would mention it to my Dentist & not wait like I did. I did loose a lot of weight like that though...

Answer 6

not a problem. it just takes a couple days. in the meantime don't put anything really big (nudge nudge, wink wink say no more) into your mouth. just keep it closed as much as possible and it'll heal nicely.

Your jaw was just twisted by the tooth extraction. give it time.

Answer 7

6 months down the line I still cant open mine properly with out forcing it... the body takes a long time to heal hun... drink soup and soft stuff... and what ever you do , dont use a straw, it causes a vacuum and re opens the wound!!