“How long do you have to have your jaw wired shut after surgery?”
I am a 30 year old male. I want to know how long do you have to have your jaw wired shut after surgery?
4 Answers
Typically not at all with modern surgical procedures
Thanks for your question! I'm not sure about other surgeons, but I haven't kept patient's teeth wired together after reconstructive jaw surgery for about 30 years. We generally always use rigid internal fixation, which means titanium plates and screws, to secure the bones as they heal and allow patients to resume normal range of motion and function as soon as possible after surgery. I hope this helps!
Although plating of jaws could allow you to not be "wired shut" at all following orthognathic surgery (if that is the surgery tow which you are referring), patients are often placed in maxillofacial-mandibular fixation ("wired shut") for 2-6 weeks post-op.
It depends on the surgery you are having and the preferences of your surgeon. When I perform jaw surgery to reposition the upper or lower jaws, we wire patients jaws shut only 10%of the time and this is up to 6 weeks. Most patients I treat with jaw surgery are NOT wired shut.
