Metal Mouth Message Board

Hi. I am supposed to get upper jaw surgery for open bite this year. I have a doubt about the metal screws and plates that will be to fix the jaw after surgery. Has anyone suffered any pain or anything bad with that titanium materials? I'm not pretty sure of like to have that in my face for all my life, and that's why I'm doing that a little bit strange question.
I hope someone could give me some advices about it.
Thanks

As far as I know, titanium is non-reactive in the body and considered to be largely hypoallergenic. (One study I found indicated a 0.6% incidence of allergy.)

Certainly it's less allergenic than, say, nickel.

I have a titanium plate on my chin from my sliding genio 5 years ago, no issues.

Its supposed to be pretty compatible. If you don't want to keep them in for life you could have them removed after you've finished healing.

Thanks for your responses.

Mr november: Do you know of someone who has the titanum plates removed after surgery? My surgeon told me that this is not an usual practice when I ask him about my doubt, and you can only do it until one year post-surgery because after that time there exist bone growing over the titanium plates so is pretty difficult to remove them.

I know that titanium is bio-compatible and all that stuff, but I'm not very convinced with the idea of having 4 plates and 12 screws in my face for the rest of my life.

Permanent metal plates and screws have been part of bone surgery and repair for many decades. It's not a new, controversial, or uncommon thing to have done. For certain bone breaks, they are used even in children without hesitation. With the modern titanium versions they are smaller, lighter, and more hypoallergenic than ever.

These "plates" and screws are quite small (titanium is ridiculously strong); we are not talking about a huge mass of metal here. You aren't going to set off the metal detector at the airport or anything. If you had dental implants, you'd have similar screws.

I don't know anyone personally who has had them removed. I've read of people having them removed several years later due to complications like sinus infections but this seems uncommon. I've also read that in Europe it's common practice to have them removed once the bones have healed. Apparently removing them is similar to the surgery as far as pain and swelling, so you might reconsider once you've had the surgery .

Thanks. I'll try to find out some more information about it.

I had double jaw surgery in December 2011 and within 9 weeks, I had an abscess and infection form over the lower left plate in the mandible so that had to be removed. When the surgeon got in there, he realized all the metal was being pushed out and was loose. Then a month after that surgery, I noticed the other side swelling, my eyes were turning red chronically and the opthamologist believed it was either metal related (I did have screws right below my eyes) or autoimmune related. I was chronically fatigued, and then I started hearing a "clicking" sound when I would run or jump while working out. The rest of the metal was taken out by my surgeon on April 7, almost 4 months post op. I started off with 32 screws and 6 plates. Immediately following surgery to remove the metal, I felt better. And today, I continue to feel better each day. My energy levels are up, no more chronic red eyes have occurred, swelling is going down, and no more clicking sounds. I am so happy I had the metal removed. I guess I was in that .6% group. My blog has more info if you want to check it out. tara-jaws.blogspot.com

Pretty interesting reply. Glad to read you are OK now. I'll check out your blog.

which kind of problem u face while plate removal....i had a surgery and had 4 plates in upper jaw but i am ellergic to them and want to remove them soon

i have several plates and over 20 titanium screws in my face, I can't feel a thing. i read somewhere one blogger complained that the screws would get cold and tighten when outside in low temperatures. no problem with that in cali though. if you do get the surgery, it will be the last thing on your mind. the swelling/pressure will consume all your attention and won't even know you have screws in your face.