10 week post TMJ op check up

I went to the QE Hospital today to meet with my consultant for a check up. He was pleased with my mouth opening (he measured it at 2cm and praised my Therabite use, once again stressing it's continued importance in recovery). When asked whether the remainder of the swelling in my cheek and around my ear would go away or whether it would stay like that forever, his response was yes and then carried onto something else, so no wiser there;>

I asked that he remove the final stitches as they stick out in 3 places and annoy me (plus worry me if i'm honest). He once again stressed that they are dissolving stitches, but cut them down flush.

He was happy with my pain number on the scale of 1-10 (1 no pain, 10 childbirth) which on a very good day was 6. I did stress that these days were rare and usually I was at 7-8 with sporadic intense stabbing pains around the sites of the implants at 9, however he reassured that this was part of the settling process and would ease and eventually go. I explained that I had just managed to get a new job as teaching for a half or full day was still too painful and the new position had 2 shorter, well spaced out shifts a day with children thus hopefully reducing the pain. He merely nodded and said that's good. Not sure how to take that!?!

Finally, he gave me a present... my 3d printed jaw! Apparently the TMJConcepts company uses the scans to create this model and then use it to create the implant. It is then sent with the implant to the consultant so s/he gets the exact placement & measurements correct. Picture to follow.