! Re: Rigid Fixation vs. Wires and Banding?

[Guest guest]

Hi Surgery Buddy!

I'm 9 Days Post op and it's great to be on the Other Side.

Here are some answers for you as they related to me.

I had a 3-piece Lefort I upper jaw and lower sagittal split jaw

surgery (and genio/chin) back in July. I had rigid fixation -- 5

plates and 28 screws. Although I was originally told that with rigid

fixtation I would not be wired, I woke up wired anyway (and quite

pissed about it, excuse the language). My surgeon said it was just

an extra measure of security for 10 days as things were a bit more

complicated than originally anticipated. Generally, though, most

folks have either-or -- either rigid fixation OR being wired (correct

me if I'm wrong out there, folks).

For that first surgery, I also had a splint. The splint is a small

acrylic? " liner " that your upper teeth rest in, that is wired to your

upper hardware. Then, if you have bands, the bands " encourage " your

lower teeth/jaw to sit in the correct position against the bottom of

the splint (when your mouth is shut). Hope that makes sense.

So you have no rubber bands connecting from your bottom teeth to the

top???? If not, you are one lucky gal! Enjoy! I have two sets

which basically hold my mouth shut and provide resistance while

opening. I suppose it's to keep the jaws in the right position while

my facial muscles heal. As for your upper lip, did you have upper

jaw surgery, hence stitches in the inside of your lips. I have TONS

of stitches on the top that I'm just counting the day until they

melt. They are puffing those areas up quite badly.

Continued good healing!

Irish!

> Hello all! I'm 12 days post op here, and doing very well. However

> I've noticed that most everyone on here talks about being banded

and

> wired on the braces after surgery...whats up with that? I have had

no

> wires or anything thus far...rigid fixation with screws, i suppose.

> Has anyone else here had this done as opposed to being wired or

> banded? Are there any advantages or disadvantages to this?

>

> Also my upper lip is annoying me...it's the only part of my face

that

> is still swollen and pretty numb. Is this normal, and how long does

> it take to go away?

>

> And a third thing...can anyone here explain to me how the splints

> are used? Are they banded into your mouth? I'm clueless

>

> Thanks

>

> -