Update

Progress has definitely slowed in terms of being able to open my mouth further, I've gained maybe a mm or 2 since my last post.  It's not something that's bothering me though as I can eat pretty much everything except maybe a big subway sandwich or something.  I'll likely keep up the exercises another couple of weeks or so and then stop if I fail to see progress.

I recently read an article comparing mouth opening of patients with bilateral condylar fractures who were treated either surgically or closed.  The study found no difference between the two groups, and the only significant factor they found was age of the patient.  Patients with bilateral fractures who were under 30 were significantly more likely to regain normal functioning (defined as 40mm opening or greater) than patients over 30.  From other things I've read, I believe the difference is due to the fact that age limits the amount of condylar remodeling that is possible. The ability of the facial muscles to stretch and compensate likely also decreases with age. This was a small study (as most of the studies I've found have been), and I wish they would have listed descriptive statistics (gender, mean and sd of age) as well as mean and sd of actual mouth opening.  There's a huge difference functionally between being able to open 35mm and 20mm. Sample size likely limited their ability to analyze the data with age and mouth opening as linear variables, or perhaps they didn't record exact measurements on mouth opening. An interesting study to me though as it only included patients with fractures like mine.

I recently went to the dentist and got all of the nasty plaque scraped off my teeth and had my chipped tooth filled.  It's so nice not to feel rough spots on my teeth.  I also went for an ortho consult and have two more scheduled.  I'll be in braces for around 2 years and may have some extractions.  I am going for a "compromise" treatment though as there's no way in hell that I'm going to have jaw surgery to get a perfect result.  There are limits as to how much I'm willing to put myself through :)  Hoping to get a better idea of how much improvement I can expect from the next consult.

Done with PT

I saw my oral surgeon today and I am done with PT.  I wasn't exactly happy with the PT and I'm confident that I can do almost all of what they did on my own.  I have made some more progress on my mouth opening, it is now 34mm.  My mouth isn't really deviating on opening all the much either, it goes a bit to the right, but its barely noticeable.  So, it looks like I don't need to spend $400 on a therabite (insurance doesn't typically cover the cost) as the tongue blades seem to be doing the trick.  If they hadn't though, I would have gladly paid that to be able to get to normal opening.  The plan is to keep adding tongue depressors until I make no more progress or get to 45mm.

Since I can feel that my front fracture is not solid, I asked how much longer it will take to firm up.  At 6 months from my surgery, I'll get another x-ray.  If its not healed by then, she may have to "go in there again".  That doesn't sound fun.  I'm going to go against my nature though and just assume that it will heal fine.  I've been convinced to varying degrees throughout this recovery that things were not going to turn out well, and so far have been wrong.  I'm getting better at not freaking out about every little thing.  I think it helps a lot that I can eat normally now, the liquid diet/soft diet where it took forever to eat small amounts of food really screwed with my head.  Plus I'm just more prone to worry than the average Joe.  I can blame that on the genes from my mom and maternal grandmother for that, as they are the same way.  I'm hoping that I didn't pass that on to my son.