Has anyone had their jaw wired shut?

[PaperFlowers]

If so, what is it like? I think I have to have mine wired shut for a few weeks when I get surgery on my upper jaw to fix my open bite. What happens if you have to throw up? How do you eat?

[Dr. Randall]

Today, most surgeons use plates and/or screws to hold things together rather than wire people shut. Occasionally there is a reason (usually due to the patient's anatomy in the ares) that they do wire the jaws shut, but not very often. I have never had one of my patients wired shut after surgery. All have had plates and screws.

The reason they try to get away from wiring shut is so patients won't run the risk of aspirating vomit, which could kill you. And you have to eat through a straw, not very appetising.

Randall

[crstal g]

Paperflowers

My surgeon is actually using the wired shut method for my surgery but I will not really be wired shut but he will use tiny elastics to hold my jaw together. When I eat, the liquid food has to pushed to the back of my mouth where the back teeth have a small space. I expect that the only foods I will get to enjoy are smoothies soup and milkshakes. He said the nutritionist I will see before the surgery is going to recommend I puree some solid foods like pasta and eat them through a straw. Not gonna happen! I am a very fussy eater. And as for what happens if you get sick you must carry around a tiny pair of scissors (like for cutting cuticles from fingernails) and let anyone who is with you know you have them and what they are for. My sugery is three weeks from tomorrow so I will keep you posted.

[Karen B]

I'm about 5 months post op from upper and lower jaw surgery. I was tightly banded for 3 weeks and then was allowed to remove the bands to eat (but no chewing) and clean my teeth. Being banded is uncomfotable but I didn't find it claustrophobic like I thougt I would. I did not have any problem with vomitting but rememer that you are only taking in liquids so anything that comes up is liquid.

Eating was difficult and everything had to be blended and very liquified. The worst part was the taste of the liquid pain meds.

Don't expect to be able to open much once the bands are removed. I had to eat with a baby spoon and shove soft food into the tiny opening. I also found eating in front of a mirror helpful due to the numbness.

Honestly, the worst part of the whole ordeal was the anxiety prior to the surgery and everything else not nearly as difficult or painful as I anticipated.

[CelestialVoices]

my dad has his jaw wired shut a long time ago after breaking it in an accident, and according to my mom he just had to eat through a straw. I'm sorry I don't know much more about this, but I was told about this when I was younger.

[rosiewalia]

hii,, i actually was wired shut for 6 weeks and i had a hard time because most ppl were elastic banded so they didnt know the discomfort i was feeling. the good thing is that u dont have to do those weird excercises where u open ur lips a little and the next day more..but the thing that sucks is the fact that u LITERALLY cant eat anything solid..its alllll liquid.. u cant open ur mouth at all... i actually did throw up 5 times after surgery because the medicine they gave me for pain made me nauseous and it came out easily,,theres a tiny hole in the wires and everything comes out from there..so u dont choke or anything. another important thing is to make sure ur nasal passages are CLEAR before surgery..i had a simple cold before surgery and because of it when my jaw was wired i began to panic because my nose was blocked and breathing from my mouth was extremely difficult luckily there was a nurse there calming me down telling me that it is possible to breathe through my mouth if i just relax but otherwise i wouldve cut them off right away..
hope i helped
xxxx

[nvcarissa]

I will have a splint, screws AND have my jaw wired shut (for a week) when I have my surgery on Wednesday. BSSO.

[Spooky]

My surgeon told me that I will be wired-shut for 21 days and I get nausea easily so this topic is one of my MAIN concern post-surgery. Where will the vomit go if I do end up barfing?? Is there any medicine that will make me not feel nausea? I read somewhere that soda such as Ginger Ale will help. Any thoughts?

[nvcarissa]

I was wired shut for a week. I was only nauseous for a while post-op but they gave me medication to help with that. That should be available for you.

Also, you will be given wire cutters in the OFF CHANCE that you need to remove your wires. Throwing up is usually not a reason to do this as

• A. You will only be on liquids, so there is no danger of choking on solids
  B. There is enough space to allow the vomit to come out. Think about it, if you can take IN liquid, you will be able to expel it.

The biggest pain in the butt for me was the unyielding nature of the wires. Yawning hurt since my mouth would only open so far. And in the first few days after the surgery, as my body was recovering from the trauma, I would get chills. Teeth chattering while wired shut isn't fun. Elastics have some give. Wires do not.

Also, I was surprised as to how I was wired shut. If yours is anything like mine, you will just have two loops on each side of your mouth. It's not like they are woven in and around your wires and brackets.

But all in all, I would say that your worry about throwing up is probably overblown. You will be fine. Are you saying that in your normal life you are nauseous on a regular basis? Or just when you have surgery? If you are nauseous on a regular basis, this is really something you should bring up with your surgeon.

[Spooky]

Yeah, I get nausea pretty often but not everytime something comes out. When I smell something unpleasant or when I cry a lot, I will feel like barfing... you know, that sense that something is trying to come up?

I will definitely bring this up and have some meds to prevent me from vomiting or wanting to vomit.

[dhaugen]

Well, I've had my jaw wired shut for 5 days now. I ran into a metal pole chasing a foul ball during a softball game, and have two small fractures in my jaw. This has to be the weirdest experience that I've had in my life. I'm a very talkative person, and now I am silent. I can talk, but after a few sentences, my teeth start feeling the "pull" of my jaw trying to open and talk. So, then I revert to grunts again. Hopefully, this will just be 3 weeks, but who knows.

The good news is that today is the first day that it's actually not hurting as bad as the previous day. Will I eventually be able to ignore my mouth, or will I always be able to 'feel' my mouth 24/7?

I've been doing a lot of ensure shakes as well as V8 and lemon-flavored fish oil, which is really good for me, and doesn't taste bad at all. Does anyone have any useful/funny stories about having their jaw wired shut? Thanks,

Dan

[yse]

Oh, Dan , that made me wince. Ouch.

I wasn't 'wired shut', I only had bands (Lefot 1 + BSSO) and that was plenty.


http://www.chinderella.wordpress.com

[jmrut22]

I was wired shut for 10 days or so.
No it was not fun, no you cannot eat anything solid. It has to be liquid and I mean liquid.

I had a syringe that I placed at the back of my mouth and pushed liquid through.

I was so swollen that even trying to talk was just muffled.

I could not drink through a straw because I was so swollen my lips would not meet.

I did throw up. It will come out the sides of your mouth, just lean foward.


Mentally, it drove me nuts..
I am glad I had the surgery but being wired shut, for me, absolutly sucked.

[Thathrill]

I have been banded fairly tightly for a little over 4 weeks now and its not fun. Yawning, sneezing, eating all sucks. LOL Talking isn't fun either and I have the type of job where I communicate with people in person and phone. Well I will say the days do fly by eventho it might not seemso at the time.

[Emerald]

I was wired up for six weeks, only just had my wires cut this Tues!

It is literally a liquid diet, I had lots of meal drinks, I had one everyday and lot of soups. I also had smooth yoghurt and mousse and lots of juice.

I brought soups from supermarkets and blended and sieved them, then drank it with a straw.

I threw up when I was in hospital the first couple of days, but that was only because of the blood that had gone into my stomach during surgery.

It came out through the wires although I had to sit up (actually I was held up) and lean forward.