Metal Mouth Message Board

Er, i'm 8 days post bsso and genio and have recently regained full use of my tongue. I have been poking about in my mouth and found what felt like a hole on my left back corner of my mouth. I got a torch out and it IS a hole. I'm panicking. What do i do? The right hand side is all neatly stitched, yet on the left, the stitches seem to have come loose and aren't holding the wound closed.
I wish i'd noticed this before, i saw the oral surgeon today...

Do i go to A&E or to a doctor? Only problem is its the weekend now...

I remember being warned about the possibility of a hole forming in the roof of my mouth after my 3-piece Lefort I.

If I were you I would go to your local A&E - at least that will give you peace of mind. Alternatively, is the ward at the hospital where you got the operation open 24 hours? At the hospital I went to I think they had someone from the maxillofacial team onsite 24 hours a day.

Good luck.

Meryaten wrote: I had these ridges of tissue in the back of the mouth that formed "pockets" in the area just in front of the BSSO incisions. I wonder if it is similar?

I have that too! One medium sized pocket, does that go??

There's no weeping or bleeding but i can fit my tongue in there...i'm due to go back to the hospital on monday to see the orthodontist, do you think i should just leave it til then? I'm just worried about getting food trapped in there and it getting infected. I did a HP rinse to try and clean it out and it was agony for a good 45 mins after so i think it could be deep.

I have two holes on each side. My surgeon didn't stitch me up inside though. Both of them have pretty much healed over (I'm almost 3 weeks post-op). Not sure if we're talking about the same thing though as I only had lower surgery.

Oh, maybe its not so odd then. It just seemed odd one side was open and the other wasn't-i would imagine that our holes are in similar places as i had lower and my holes are adjacent to where my wisdom teeth would be. Gonna bring it up when i see the ortho tomorrow.

So what did the ortho say? Hope it was all ok!

Ooo, just seen your message, sorry! The surgeon popped in to have a look and apparantely he read a recently read a paper that suggested that 50% of BSSO's have one of these 'holes' turn up-basically its where the stitching has wriggled apart and it leaves a cavity. But they heal up, you've just got to keep it clean. My surgeon said it was the first one he'd seen! So i'm first for holes AND first for latex band allergies

Ooo, there's one more special thing i forgot-my right ear lobe is numb. My surgeon said i'm the first patient of his to have this as well! He reckons it could be from the drains i had in my neck-the nerve to the ear runs up the neck and he thinks it may have been knocked. Makes putting in earrings fun!

Hehe, i'd need an earlobe shaped charm....an elastic band shaped charm...
I'm going to post my experiences of surgery on the oral surgery board at some point this weekend-i owe it to everyone awaiting surgery cos past experiences certainly helped me feel better about it