Patient: Description of condition (onset, main symptoms, hospital visited, etc.): The right lower horizontal blocked wisdom tooth was extracted in Xi’an on December 20, 2010, that is 9 days ago, with restricted mouth opening and daily hot compresses. At present, I cannot eat large pieces of food, and I feel fatigue and slight pain in my right cheek and mouth when I chew. Is it possible to recover completely? Thank you! Qiao Yongming, Department of Stomatology, First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University: The difficulty in opening the mouth after tooth extraction may be due to two problems: 1. Local anesthetic injection causes mild local infection, and the surrounding chewing muscles are invaded, resulting in difficulty in opening the mouth. Or the tooth extraction is more traumatic, causing mild infection around and difficulty in opening the mouth due to masticatory muscle irritation. These two conditions are more common, and you may be the latter. All the problems in this area can be effectively treated by anti-inflammatory treatment, local heat physiotherapy, and masticatory muscle closure treatment and mouth opening exercise. 2. Opening the mouth for too long during tooth extraction causes damage to the temporomandibular joint, resulting in difficulty in opening the mouth. This situation is less likely to occur and can be recovered quickly. It can be treated by local hot compresses, physical therapy, or joint cavity injection. All these conditions can be fully recovered.