Overview

This information is for people who have, or are at risk of having, reduced jaw opening.

Sometimes, your jaw opening can become restricted after surgery, radiotherapy or both. This can lead to problems with being able to open your mouth enough to:

• eat
• speak
• clean your mouth
• be examined

This information covers:

• how to check how much your mouth can open
• recommended exercises to help improve your jaw opening
• the arrangements for your follow-up care

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us.

Checking how much your mouth can open

It is important to be aware of how much your mouth can open. A good way to test this is to see how many fingers you can put between your front teeth or gums:

• If you can put 2 fingers between your front teeth or gums, this is a good “functional” range. It helps you to manage essential tasks like eating, drinking and brushing your teeth.
• If you can put 3 fingers between your front teeth or gums, this is the expected normal range.

You can do this test every day until your treatment is finished.

If the gap becomes less than 3 fingers wide, it may be helpful to have extra physiotherapy. Please speak to your healthcare professional if you notice this happening.

Recommended exercises

After testing your jaw movement, your physiotherapist has recommended one or a combination of the exercises in this section. They believe that the exercises will help to improve your jaw opening.

Opening and closing your jaw

To do this exercise:

• Sit in a chair with an upright posture.
• Open your mouth as wide as you can in a pain-free range. Hold for 5 to 10 seconds and then close your mouth.
• Repeat this exercise 5 to 10 times, 5 to 8 times a day.

You can progress the exercise as follows:

• Use your fingers to increase the stretch.
• Hold the stretch for 20 to 30 seconds and then relax.
• Repeat this exercise 5 times, 5 to 8 times a day.

Side-to-side movements

To do this exercise:

• Sit in a chair in an upright posture.
• With your mouth slightly open, move the bottom jaw to the left. Make sure that the movement is coming from the jaw and not just the lips.
• Hold for 10 seconds and then relax.
• Repeat by moving the bottom jaw to the right in the same way.
• Repeat this exercise 5 to 10 times, 5 to 8 times a day.

To progress the exercise, increase the stretch on the jaw by putting gentle sideways pressure on the chin.

Left-side movement

Right-side movement

Fish stretch

To do this exercise:

• Sit in a chair with an upright posture and your jaw in a resting position.
• Push the tip of your tongue into the roof of your mouth. Open your mouth as wide as you can in a pain-free range, keeping the tongue in this position.
• Hold for 5 to 10 seconds and then relax.
• Repeat this exercise 5 to 10 times, 5 to 8 times a day.

To progress the exercise, increase the hold to a maximum of 20 seconds.

Forwards and backwards movements

To do this exercise:

• Sit in a chair with an upright posture and your mouth slightly open.
• Poke your chin forwards, so that the bottom jaw overlaps with the top jaw.
• Hold this position for 5 to 10 seconds and then return to the resting position.
• Repeat this exercise 5 to 10 times, 5 to 8 times a day.

To progress the exercise, increase the hold to a maximum of 20 seconds.

Figure of 8 or camel exercise

To do this exercise:

• Sit in a chair with an upright posture and your jaw in the resting position.
• Open your mouth and move your bottom jaw to replicate a sideways figure of 8.
• Repeat this exercise 5 times in a clockwise direction.
• Repeat this exercise 5 times in an anticlockwise direction.
• Do the exercise 5 to 8 times a day.

Your follow-up care

You might be referred for more physiotherapy when you leave hospital. This is to prevent problems with jaw opening and any other related issues.

The amount of physiotherapy that you have depends on your individual needs. If a previous issue starts to affect you again or you have a new problem, please speak with your healthcare professional.