Poll: How tightly were you banded shut?

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#1 Post by **parsleysage** » Mon Apr 21, 2014 8:24 pm

In the hours I've spent running my greedy fingers over every corner of the internet researching people's experiences with jaw surgery, I have seen a HUGE variety in how people are banded during recovery. I have seen people who were so garbled they used a white board for the first two weeks, and I've seen someone who was talking almost normally the day after.

The biggest difference seems to be upper jaw surgery vs. lower/both jaws. Upper-only folks seem to be banded fairly lightly, or I even saw one guy who wasn't banded at all and just had a splint. I think thinness/thickness of bone can play into it as well.

So, wired folks who've had orthognathic surgery, how tightly were you banded? Could you talk/eat with a small spoon right away? Or were you eating with a syringe for weeks? Or... somewhere in between?

#2 Post by **samoorelaw** » Mon Apr 21, 2014 11:46 pm

I had upper jaw only but was banded tightly shut for 5.5 weeks, liquid diet only during that time. However, I only needed the syringe for the first week: I graduated to drinking out of cups and using straws pretty quickly, but that's because my lower jaw wasn't numb. I started using spoons maybe the second week, but I could only slurp the food out with the sides of my mouth and suck the food between my teeth because I couldn't open my mouth. After about a week, I adapted and learned to talk better without mumbling too badly. Yes, I had to repeat myself at times, but I didn't resort to using texts or messages too often.

#3 Post by **boodles8** » Tue Apr 22, 2014 1:37 pm

Lower only: Banded fully shut unable to open at all for one week, syringes only, unintelligible. At one week, got moved to looser bands which I was permitted to take off to eat, graduated to spoons, talking became slowly more intelligible. I never sounded normal until week 6 when both the splint and the looser elastics went, to my utmost relief.

#4 Post by **sirwired** » Tue Apr 22, 2014 6:56 pm

Upper-only; very light banding.

#5 Post by **parsleysage** » Wed Apr 23, 2014 10:44 pm

sirwired wrote:Upper-only; very light banding.

Plus the accursed splint, eh?

samoorelaw, I wonder what it was about your recovery where you had to be banded so tightly. Did they say anything about your bone thickness/thinness?

#6 Post by **Alicia110613** » Thu Apr 24, 2014 5:22 am

lower only, banded lightly, no splint. My surgeon mentioned I had thick jaw bones so my nerves were not too impacted. I had enough sensation to drink from a cup/bowl right after I woke up in the hospital. I was able to fit a small fork after the first week.

#7 Post by **Tingrinteacher** » Sun Apr 27, 2014 2:18 pm

I was incredibly lucky:

Double jaw with big measurements (bottom back about 9mm, top up 4mm, forward 6mm and canted) I didn't have any banding until 3 weeks later. I've now got a box one side, and on the other, I've got one band from canine to canine.

My bite was perfect following surgery, my wonderful surgeon did a great job, and even with swelling it was good. He argued that with restricted movement, it wouldn't heal as well.

I love him! X

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