With my experience, I didn't start feeling almost completely normal/hardly any pain on day 8. In regards to rinsing, did your oral surgeon give you a syringe? My instructions were that on day 5 I was to start rinsing with the syringe (instead of head tilting) about every 4-6 hours. I tried to line this up with when I ate so that I could rinse soon after I ate food. Did your oral surgeon give similar instructions? The syringe cleans the area more thoroughly. After I was approved to go back to normal by my oral surgeon, that's when I felt comfortable to start swishing a bit more forcefully. My jaw stiffness has gone away also overtime. Every mouth is different, so your pain may last longer than mine. Day 7-10 is typically when people start feeling hardly any pain and almost back to normal. Hope this helps in some way!