Oral Health After Surgery?

[pantlover]

I'm prone to easily getting cavities and I'm wondering what everyone's teeth health was like after not being able to brush for so long after the surgery? This is probably one of my biggest concerns since I'm such a freak about brushing/flossing.

[snapdresser]

My teeth felt reeeeally disgusting for the time I had a lot of elastics on, which was about 6 weeks. Then it was much better, tho I have a pit in one of my molars that my surgeon checked and said wasn't a cavity, but it is unnerving to me. That reminds me, I need to make an appointment for a teeth cleaning and a new set of xrays lol

[pantlover]

Thanks for your reply! It's probably one of my biggest concerns about post surgery is the health of my teeth. I don't want to sacrifice my teeth for my bite and I am already really prone to cavities.

On that note, I'm wondering, if anyone else has experienced things like resorption, bone loss, gingivitis, gum recession, enamel wear, or even tooth loss, etc etc. after the surgery? I know I've read a blog where the person ended up losing a front tooth because of bad oral hygiene after the surgery. This is also a huge fear of mine. But knowing my luck, after the surgery, my mouth will probably be full of cavities or even worse.

[snapdresser]

One of my front teeth actually did loosen because of my archbars, but I presume you'll have braces instead, so you don't have to worry about that. It's tightened back up tho it's still maybe 0.5mm lower than my other front tooth. It's not noticeable and at some point when I'm fully convinced it will get no better my surgeon will grind it down a tiny bit to match. ALSO I had gum recession between many of my teeth. This is also from the archbars so something you shouldn't have to deal with. My gums seem to be regrowing tho, if slowly.

[EWUgal15]

My surgeon said I could go back to using my Sonicare toothbrush right after surgery. I haven't had my surgery yet, so I can't really speak from experience but I did ask this question early on when I started having regular checkups for progress toward surgery. I imagine I might try to use my Sonicare right away and end up switching to a children's manual toothbrush for a few weeks.

[sirwired]

The recovery is not so long that you should develop cavities THAT rapidly. If your oral health is good going in, you should be okay.

That said, if you want to ask for an Rx for Chlorhexidine Gluconate rinse (a.k.a Peridex), that can't hurt. (Although it does make food taste nasty for a while after use, so you might not want to use it during the phase where you are slowly sipping calories All. The. Time.) The only drawback of Rx CHG rinses is that they often (usually?) cause staining, so you'll likely need your teeth professionally cleaned after all your surgical stuff comes off.

I had my splint in for nine weeks (I was able to brush once at six weeks), and nasty, chunky, smelly, buildup, from all kinds of foods, and my teeth held out, and I did not use a disinfecting rinse.

[jaime]

Unlike everyone else it seems, my surgeon actually instructed me to start brushing the day after surgery, so I did. It was pretty rudimentary. I tried to at least scrub the front and backs of my teeth with paste and then with a rinsed brush. I did not have a splint though, so it wasn't too bad. If you have a splint, I definitely recommend the Peridex rinse that sirwired mentioned.

[nitro]

I'm prone to easily getting cavities

Same here. Do you have a super sweet (not a paid endorsement) Sonicare toothbrush? It could be coincidence, but since getting mine I haven't had a single cavity. I think my favorite part is that it really encourages 2 whole minutes of brushing.

[Zonda]

Unlike everyone else it seems, my surgeon actually instructed me to start brushing the day after surgery, so I did.

Same here, I was told to brush as best I could and use Corsodyl mouthwash.

[pantlover]

I'm prone to easily getting cavities

Same here. Do you have a super sweet (not a paid endorsement) Sonicare toothbrush? It could be coincidence, but since getting mine I haven't had a single cavity. I think my favorite part is that it really encourages 2 whole minutes of brushing.

Yup, I brush with my sonicare AND floss after every meal and I was STILL getting cavities. I don't even drink soda or coffee and on the VERY rare occasions that I eat anything sweet, I immediately brush my teeth right after. Still, with all of that, I was still pulling 2-3 cavities at every dental checkup. I've recently started adding mouthwash twice a day to my routine so hopefully that will at least help. I think the biggest reason for my being prone to cavities is because of my mouth breathing (a result of my underbite which causes my mouth to naturally hang open). And so when I wake up in the morning, my mouth is literally bone dry.

[mouth]

Doc told me to use manual tooth brush and rinse with salt water. I felt comfortable using electric tooth brush on lower teeth and child's manual tooth brush on top careful not to hit suture line. Then used water pic on lowest pressure setting to rinse mouth. I felt it was too painful and difficult to close mouth to manual rinse. I also used those tiny little brushes and floss to get between teeth. Although doc did not say I had some peridex I used to do final rinse at suture line. Trying to rinse is very messy. I found it difficult to close my mouth and have complete control of facial muscles immediately post op. It got better as time went on.