Metal Mouth Message Board

My surgeon said I didn't need elastics as my jaw wasn't moving and he was really happy with it.

But every now and again my jaw like kind of twitches.

I'm a little paranoid that I'm going to relapse completely or something.

Am I worried over nothing.

Hi there,
Don't know if you had upper or lower or both, but I have just had upper jaw surgery and I don't have any elastics at all. I can open my mouth freely. But, I am being very careful!

However, the Surgeon adapted the wafer and has wired that to my upper teeth, just for a bit of stability for a week as my back teeth are not going to immediately touch until the Orthodontist gets to work on them.

Happysmiler

I had upper and lower.

And yes, spasms is a good way of describing it.

I'm seeing my ortho tomorrow so I'll see what she says.

i had surgery 5 days ago, when i came out i had no elastics for a whole day. the hospital has a clinic in it (NYC) and so my surgeons work in the clinic and do surgery out of the OR there (though i went through my surgeons private practice). the next day a resident brought me down and i got 2 elastics. i now only have 2 elastic, too in a parallelagram shape. i had upper, lower, and genio. it has been wonderful being able to open my mouth a bit.

im so envious! Im having upper and lower, and im being WIRED shut! My surgeon is so old school

are you having rigid fixation? plates and screws? then unless something goes wrong, ie- bad bone break, you shouldnt need to be wired. i would talk to him if youre that nervous about it.

chipmunkcheeks wrote:are you having rigid fixation? plates and screws? then unless something goes wrong, ie- bad bone break, you shouldnt need to be wired. i would talk to him if youre that nervous about it.

Not necessarily. I had my surgery on July 2nd, though I only had my lower jaw done, Iam pretty much wired shut. Although my OS kept refering to it as "wired" its actually elastics (so tight though that i cant move my mouth). I dont have any rigid fixation and my surgury went exactly to plan. Im pretty sure he did a procedure that moved my jaw back by making a cut and sliding the bone between the remaining ramus' or something...its hard to discribe...but rather than marrow to marrow healing it is bone to bone healing (which I was told takes a bit longer to heal).

My OS put the elastics 5 days after the surgery. I had an advancement of my lower jaw on June 10.

steph- I dont have any rigid fixation

steph- you dont have any plates or screws (rigid fixation), maybe that is why you are rubberbanded so heavily to keep your jaw in place securely.

i figured that i would come out of surgery rubberbanded quite heavily, but nothing was on my mouth! i could even open it about 3/4 of an inch. the surgeon said that it isnt necessary to close my mouth so tightly because of the plates and screws, which hold everything where they want it. they even took xrays the next day to make sure.

this is why im wondering if tortor is having plates and screws hold the jaw in place. my friend had the same surgery about 8 years ago, and was literally wired shut. i dont know if it was because rigid fixation was not used or because it was simply the doctors choice-she doesnt really know.

i guess it really comes down to what the surgeon likes to do and is confident will have the best outcome. at this point, i am counting my blessings. good luck, steph, with getting to open your mouth super soon!

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My ortho and my OS have used the term "wired shut" many times and just recently at my last ortho appointment, I decided to ask my ortho if the term "wired shut" meant elastics.

Unfortunately for me, he said wired shut meant wires, but I'm not yet sure if I'll be getting plates and screws. I'll find out at my OS consultation next tuesday.