Metal Mouth Message Board

I had a Le Forte upper jaw surgery several years ago and am now having the plates and screws removed as a last resort to see if the screws are causing my severe and frequent sinus infections.

Has anyone had their upper jaw surgery plates removed? I am wondering just how bad the recovery from this is, specifically how much pain, facial swelling, and facial numbness to expect.

Hey-don't know about upper plates yet but I did have a lower, chin plate removed about 3 and a 1/2 months post-op, along with 6 screws. That surgery was a piece of cake. I could have went to work the next day and their was not swelling. It was done in surgeon's office. I was out within a couple of hours. I am now going to have the bottom 6 remaining screws in the back of my lower jaw removed Feb 9th. This requires that it be done it the hospital and suspect it may be a little more entailed than the office procedure. That would be terrible if the plates were causing the sinus infections. What makes you believe that this is the case? Best wishes and prayers

I've had sinus infections for the past 11 years. I have the plates/screws for 17 years. My ENT doctor has tried about every therapy/medication possible to keep me from getting infections and antibiotics to get rid of the infections. I am now having antibiotic complications and antibiotics that no longer work because I've taken them too frequently. My oral surgeon has had patients that had sinus infections after getting the plates placed. It is just a guess if the plates are the cause of the infections and as I said a "last resort" to remove them.

I had one lower plate & screws removed in October. Piece of cake compared to the original surgery!! I had a good bit of swelling and discomfort, but it was manageble and short lived. I had the plate removed on a Friday morning and returned to work on Monday.

Just a post surgery follow-up note: I had my upper jaw plates removed 2 weeks ago. The recovery is much slower that what people describe of the lower jaw plate removal. I found that I have had about as much swelling, pain, and facial numbness as the original surgery. Just what I feared. This time I also had a large bruise on my face. I was off work for 1 week and needed steroids to get the swelling to go down. Part of my face is still numb and I expect it will be for at least a couple more weeks. I wouldn't recommend plate removal unless you absolutely need it done.

So sorry to hear that it was so uncomfortable. I would imagine that the upper would be more difficult that our lower surgeries. I hope after all this that it helps with your sinus infections. Prayers and good wishes to you.

I just wanted to post a follow-up on my surgery. I got back to normal after about 2 months. I got back almost all of the sensation in my face. I always had some numbness (in one small area) after the original Le Forte surgery, but now there is very slightly numbness to the gum area under my lip. Best of all, so far after 5 months, I haven't had a sinus infection, but I need to go many more months before I will consider my sinus infections cured.[/u]

Congrats on the lack of sinus infection & thanks for posting an update

i have had bad sinus pressure, several sinus infections, vertigo, even nauseous to the point of throwing up ever since surgery 2 years ago. I also have upper plates and screws. I think I am going to ask my surgeon about this when I see him this summer for a final look at everything since I just got everything done with in April (yes, it was a long road even after surgery). Has anyone else had this problem as well? I have NEVER had a sinus infection before all of this was done (SARPE, BSSO, LF1, Genio).....just wondering....

When I did my double jaw surgery 13 days ago, I only had plates and screws installed on my upper jaw.

I may remove them a few years after my jaw surgery. Depending on how I feel.

The screws from my 1st surgery have migrated up through the gums, so I had them removed at my second surgery. It felt so much better.

Now after my second surgery, the ENTIRE PLATE holding my chin on is sticking out of my gum a few mm's. Just paged the surgeon on call.

Sigh.

How is it possible to have double jaw surgery but only have plates on one jaw? I wonder if removing the plates might have been easier had it been done in the first year.

My surgeon offered to use biodegradable plates and screws but they're contraindicated for the mandible by themselves. I was thinking to ask to have them removed in a 2nd surgery but if these statements are true then another option exists. Biodegradable upper and mix of biodegradable and titaniium lower. If the lower surgery isn't that bad, then it seems like a good option. Surgeons I've met seem to have little to no experience or interest with biodegradable, though they're routinely used in children and in other parts of the body. Only thing I wonder is whether they fully degrade, as bone grows around them within a year and they don't fully degrade until 2 years. Also, whether the holes left fill in with soft tissue or bone.

balor124 wrote:How is it possible to have double jaw surgery but only have plates on one jaw? I wonder if removing the plates might have been easier had it been done in the first year.

My surgeon offered to use biodegradable plates and screws but they're contraindicated for the mandible by themselves. I was thinking to ask to have them removed in a 2nd surgery but if these statements are true then another option exists. Biodegradable upper and mix of biodegradable and titaniium lower. If the lower surgery isn't that bad, then it seems like a good option. Surgeons I've met seem to have little to no experience or interest with biodegradable, though they're routinely used in children and in other parts of the body. Only thing I wonder is whether they fully degrade, as bone grows around them within a year and they don't fully degrade until 2 years. Also, whether the holes left fill in with soft tissue or bone.

I suppose a surgeon could use pins instead of plates for the lower.

As far as why absorbable plates/screws aren't used? The jaw is under tremendous stress; the jaw muscles are the strongest in the body by a substantial margin; it's easy to exert hundreds of pounds of force without even trying hard. (There's a reason the teeth are the strongest bones! Chewing is TOUGH.) A common act for a circus strong-man used to be towing a railroad car with a cable stuck in a bite-piece; trying to do that with your arms would never work; your shoulders would give out. "In Titanium We Trust" is not a bad motto for a jaw surgeon to have.

[quote="balor124"]How is it possible to have double jaw surgery but only have plates on one jaw? I wonder if removing the plates might have been easier had it been done in the first year.

My surgeon offered to use biodegradable plates and screws but they're contraindicated for the mandible by themselves. I was thinking to ask to have them removed in a 2nd surgery but if these statements are true then another option exists. Biodegradable upper and mix of biodegradable and titaniium lower. If the lower surgery isn't that bad, then it seems like a good option. Surgeons I've met seem to have little to no experience or interest with biodegradable, though they're routinely used in children and in other parts of the body. Only thing I wonder is whether they fully degrade, as bone grows around them within a year and they don't fully degrade until 2 years. Also, whether the holes left fill in with soft tissue or bone.[/quote]
Hi Balor123 - Is your surgeon in the U.S. I would like to find a surgeon who would consider bioegradable plates and screws.