Re: band question

July 29, 2005

Tonya, it depends. My first five days I was double-banded, which means

my mouth was tightly closed. I could barely fit a straw in between my

teeth. However, I could remove the bands for eating and hygiene. Your

doc may or may not allow that. I'm now single-banded, which allows

quite a bit of opening. Ask your doc for details on his/her particular

strategy. Luna

July 29, 2005

Hi!

I was banded after my surgery on the 24 of June. My teeth were closed

tightly and I could not open them. I think this was good because it

also offered some protection from moving my jaw the wrong way after

having it traumatized by the surgery. Take care.

Fay

> I have a question about bands. My doctor said I would be banded

> instead of wired which is good; my question is do the bands hold

your

> teeth together very tightly? Can you move your teeth apart even

> slightly so they are not clinched really tight? Do you know what I

> mean? I will only have them on for 7 days or so, but I would still

> like to know that I could open even slightly. thanks tonya

July 29, 2005

It depends, I think, on your own surgeon.

One thing I found out is that my muscles were very, very weak, so

opening with the bands on just wasn't really happening during that

first week (when I wasn't to remove them). I wasn't really tightly

banded so I could still talk, but according to my husband I mumbled. I

used my whiteboard a lot!

I could open with the bands on enough to put the syringe tubing in, or

use the zip-n-squeeze, so if you're worried about being able to get

nutrition in, you should be ok. But again, it depends on how tightly

your surgeon wraps you up.

Hope that helps,