Hi alawton3214,
I’m so glad you FINALLY have a surgery date! I think you must have misunderstood what Dr. Samji said as he has done ES surgery for me & and many others on this forum & has never dislocated someone’s jaw as part of the surgery. As Jules said, he goes in through an incision in the neck. Jaw soreness can result because of the trigeminal nerve being irritated during surgery & possibly from the breathing tube but not from dislocation. You might want to double check that with him.
Thanks Jules and Isaiah! I was a little surprised when he was talking about dislocating the jaw since I have never seen anyone mention that aspect of the surgery before. You are probably right, I must have misunderstood. I will reach out and have him clarify. I can’t wait to get his done, hopefully I will be pain free (or at least improved) by Thanksgiving!
Hey @alawton3214, it sounds like you’re on the right path, just wanted to say my symptoms flared horribly after I went to a routine dentist visit. Every time I go to the dentist I have a lot of pain in the days following, my ENT thinks perhaps due to my mouth being open and that whole area around the jaw getting inflamed.
Hi alawton,
I’ve seen this discussion very recently and I’ve been at Dr. Samji recently too. You might have seen my Made it to Cali post.
And I think you understand it right though I don’t like to disagree with the wonderful people here.
Dr. Samji also told me that he had to dislocate my jaw to the side of surgery to have space and access for the procedure. My brother was with me and told me afterwards that he got a queasy feeling in his stomach when he heard that.
I thought about my tmjd like symptoms but I see this as a consequence of my ES. And I expected changes in the tension patterns in jaw anyway. So I wasn’t too concerned about it. And when this procedure is performed you are under general anaestesia with complete flaccid muscles, so it is probably different then imagined. Nevertheless I think I definitely noticed some pain or discomfort in my jaws afterwards I would ascribe to this procedure.
But to give you some courage again:
On the second day after the operation, I absolutely had to test a burger from five guys when we were already there. And it was absolutely doable for me with a bit of caution. Only the burger was heavy in my stomach afterwards. I recommend all the way but without fried mushrooms on. 
Thanks TheDude for clarifying that, nobody’s ever mentioned that before! It makes sense that it’s probably less of a trauma to the jaw as the muscles are relaxed under GA, as you pointed out.
@alawton3214 , I hope that this reassures you a bit?
Thanks TheDude! I appreciate you sharing your experience. I wonder if that is a newer process in Dr. Samji’ surgery, or if he just decided to start telling people about it? I like that he is transparent about the process, but I almost wish he wouldn’t have told me. Like you said, I bet it isn’t as bad as it sounds, it just puts an image in my head that is hard to ignore! It does make me feel better that you were able to enjoy a burger just a couple of days after surgery. I hope I am in the same boat. Although I might have to go with In-N-Out burger instead!
I applaud your choice of In-n-Out, alawton. That’s my pick over Five Guys, too! (Sorry @TheDude 
).
I apologize for giving you info that is different than what you heard from Dr. Samji. You pose a good question - is the jaw dislocation something new or something he’s always done but is just now starting to mention it. I’d like to know that for myself as well!! The way TheDude described it, it didn’t sound so bad - more of a scooting the lower jaw out of the way than a full dislocation. I must say, my eyes have been opened by this discussion. 
Oh yes of course, I’m completely with you about the burger restaurant selection. In-n-out became our favorite too. But we had to evaluate that first. 
Congrats on scheduling your surgery. Ive never heard he needs to dislocate the jaw either but he did warn me my TMJ could flair up after surgery and it sure did on my 1st surgery but not the 2nd?
I will say that my TMJ had been really flaired up for several months and excruiating temporalis pain 4 months prior to surgery. I did get injections of steroids and botox. It still wasnt pain free up there prior to ES surgery. I personally think if my TMJ had been more under control before surgery, it would not have flaired up so much. Make sure you remind him and the anesthesiologist prior to surgery about your TMJ and to be gentle…as gentle as they can be.
IM with you on that one too Dude 