Postoperative recommendations

Food
It is a good idea to only eat soft foods for the first few weeks. After about a month, patients can switch to foods with ?regular? consistencies. If the mouth opening is too limited in the early days, the food must be liquefied so that it can be drunk. This means more time and effort, both in terms of preparation and in terms of eating. Because of this, it is best to have several smaller portions spread out over the day to avoid having to take in large amounts of food in one sitting.

In principle, patients can eat anything they want to, just not always in the way that they?re used to. Food can be finely shredded with a food processor, blender, or mixer, or it can be sieved. If the consistency of the food is still too thick, it can be thinned with some cooking fluid, milk, bouillon or gravy. Canned goods such as frankfurters and beans are soft and easily processed. Baby food may also be used. Mixing different tastes together generally results in a tasteless mush, so the different foods and flavours are best kept separate. Most patients lose a few kilos as a result of this operation. If necessary, additional calories may be added to the food. Nutritional sugar may be added for this purpose. It has a neutral flavour and can be used in both sweet and savoury dishes. Nutritional sugar can be found at the drugstore.
Extra vitamins and minerals may also be added to the food, for example by consuming special milk drinks. Protein powder may be added as well. In general, however, a normal diet is more than sufficient, and these additives only add unnecessary costs. An icing bag can be a useful aid in consuming fluid food quickly.

Oral hygiene
Prior to the operation, we will give you a prescription for a mouth wash (corsodyl). You should rinse with this twice per day until you can brush your teeth normally. However, you should try to switch to fully cleaning your teeth with a toothbrush, toothpaste and dental floss as soon as possible.

Mouth opening
Immediately after the operation you should actively exercise your jaw (using your chewing musculature, not by manipulating your jaw with your hands) by half-opening your mouth and moving your jaw from side to side. This ensures a speedy recovery of the mouth opening. It can take months for mobility to return to how it was prior to the operation. Contact sports are prohibited during the first 6 weeks following the operation. If you receive an accidental blow to your jaw, it may break. Beyond that, you are the best judge of what you can and cannot do. Listen to your body, and don?t push yourself too hard.