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Help for trismus? How did you manage this post radiation side effect?
Head & Neck Cancer | Last Active: Aug 22 8:46pm | Replies (8)Comment receiving replies
@sepdvm
Thanks for your input. I am going to PT twice weekly for stretching and strengthening exercises for my mouth. I recently got the prepress mouth stretcher, but can't open enough to get it in my mouth. My mouth pain has increased to the point that I had a PET and CT scan last week with inconclusive results. I saw my surgeon Friday, and he tried to do a needle biopsy on an area in my mouth that looks ulcerated, but was unable to do. So, he's taking
me to the OR to manually stretch my mouth so he can see what's going on.
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@mimser
Hi there i have severe trismus for 5 years now. At first there is a lot of pain and weird sounds but over time the pain goes. Im just under 2 fingers and can eat most things normally.
I started with stacking fudge sticks and then moved onto a device called gentle jaw. Be very careful if you stretch and feel pain you can make it spasm too much. Be gentle with the stretching.
Im sorry to report that all these years later im still at 2 fingers. I haven't stretched in years as I realised it wasn't going to change.
My teeth are good. I clean at dentist every few months and use waterpik as I cant get in to floss.
I've gotten used to it and I may eat slower and avoid things that take heavy chewing (like steak) but its really not bad after the pain etc subsides over time