Metal Mouth Message Board

In the surgery, are the jaws always wired shut? I thought I read somewhere that they don't do that anymore?

As far as I know, they don't do it anymore usually. They band you shut but you can still open your mouth a bit and the bands can be removed.

Usually if they can use rigid fixation (screws and plates) you will only be banded shut. It is not as tight as being wired shut but don't be fooled, you cannot open your mouth banded shut either. There may be a slight looseness but it's not like you'll be able to put real food in your mouth "banded" shut.

It depends on the surgeon. I was banded shut for a week. After that it was small bands when sleeping.

I was not wired or rubber banded shut. I've had rubber bands place though at my one week check up.

I'm only having lower surgery and the surgeon has said no splint and despite rigid fixation I will still be banded closed fulltime for up to 8 weeks.

Varies by surgeon and surgery. Full wiring shut is really rare nowadays. Using heavy elastics to hold you closed most of the time, but still able to talk and clean your teeth, is fairly common. For myself, I had an upper splint and pretty light elastics; I hardly noticed they were there.

It was no walk in the park though; I had to wear that splint (which was wired to my upper arch) for nine weeks. I brushed my teeth four times in a row when they pulled that out. My teeth were really nasty by that point.

I just found out from my surgeon that I am going to be wired for 10-12 days after double jaw surgery. I was a little surprised since I heard nobody really does it anymore, but she's been doing this for 25 years or so and said it's more reliable for her patients that live further away from her office (I live an hour from her). She said with the wires she can send me home and not see me for at least 7-10 days, but with bands she would have to follow up with me a few times. So, convenient for her and for me to not have to drive back and forth to her office during that first rough week.

Not sure if I completely understand that reasoning though. Maybe the slight looseness you have with the bands allows for more movement and she would have to check to see I haven't wacked anything out or something?