Metal Mouth Message Board

Hello all,

Tomorrow will mark 25 days from my double jaw surgery and I will have my splint removed.
Just wondering, when is it normal the splint to be removed?
I have seen 6 weeks on a different blogs, so I am a little afraid that mine is taken off too early.

Lucian

Grats on getting past the three week mark. Hope you are doing better.

i think splint varies with the clinician. I didn't have a splint at all. I was closed shut with 4 sets of elastics for about 3.5 weeks then double elastics for 2 then single elastics for 1 before I was completely free from it. If you are worried that your splint is off early, talk to your team. It maybe because you are making good progress that they are freeing you from the splint.

My splint was in for the duration of surgery and gone before I woke up. I was held shut with 6 elastics for 7 weeks...and I only started changing them at 3 weeks post op.

Thanks for your fast reply, is really appreciated.

does anyone know what's the point of the splint? and why some people have them while others don't?

The splint is used to hold your mouth in the proper position during surgery and sometimes after. Your case and treatment plan will determine the need for a splint and how long it should be worn.

[quote="pantlover"]does anyone know what's the point of the splint? and why some people have them while others don't?[/quote]


Ahhh man. I had upper jaw surgery and during the surgery they bad my splint on but took it off afterwards.

Overnight my teeth moved and they had to put the splint back in! I'm guessing the splint is there to direct the teeth to where the surgeons feel is the optimive place they should sit.

My surgeons told me I may need surgery again though if my splint doesn't fix my teeth!!!!

I had mine removed 4 weeks post-op, and oh man did it feel good to get that thing off!!

pantlover wrote:does anyone know what's the point of the splint? and why some people have them while others don't?

From what my surgeon said when I asked; he wires and leaves it in place if the patient is going to have a multi-piece Lefort or has other things that might influence recovery; thin bones.... He said it was more stable during recovery. He uses it during surgery for jaw positioning on the more "simple" surgeries and then removes it before the patient wakes up. He knows how much patients hate that thing so he only uses it when necessary. He did say that some surgeons want to err on the side of caution and will leave it in during healing. It also helps to "train" the muscles to find the correct bite.