Plate removal 10 years after BSSO -terrified!

[loulou123]

Hi all

I used to be a regular member of these forums after having braces and bsso surgery in 2008.

A couple of months ago I started to get pain in my lower jaw and my dentist believed it may have been the plate (as any dental reason for pain was ruled out.) I saw the maxillo facial consultant in June and he immediately agreed the plate needed to come out.

So 10 years on from the orginal surgery I am having the plate out on the 27th July (2 weeks today )

I have already had one plate out 12 weeks after surgery, so kinda know what to expect, but at that time I still had significant swelling from orginal operation and no feeling at all in lower jaw.

I am terrified about the operation as NEVER expected to need the plate out after this amount of time and can’t help thinking it must be well embedded in the new bone growth after this amount of time. The consultant has also warned from the scan he took that the nerve to the lower jaw looks to be right next to the plate/jaw bone so it is likely to be disturbed leading to numbness again after the surgery.

I had a horrible time with the orginal two surgeries due to infection, wisdom teeth problems, significant bleeding, problems with the anaesthic etc and cannot believe more surgery is required.

Has anyone else had a plate removed after such a long time?

Thanks

[kplatt2010]

Hi LouLou,
I would get a second opinion before going back under. They may both come to the same conclusion but if you had an infection post-op and 10 years since last surgery, there's going to be a lot of scar tissue so you want someone that is very experienced and knows what their doing.

Also most importantly; make sure the hospital where you will have the procedure is well regarded; you can check them out for complications and overall score through CMS (url is https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/search.html?). Preferably a hospital that deals with trauma (like a level one trauma center) to ensure you have top notch experts caring for you postoperatively.

Keep a running list of all your questions and ask them when you go to see the provider. Ask the provider if he will be doing the procedure or is this a Fellow. For this type of delicate work, the primary surgeon should be the attending. The Fellow assisting is one thing but not as primary. This should all be very clearly explained when they consent you. I've actually in the past made notations on the consent or disagree with a specific point. You don't want to be adversarial but you need to be your own advocate on this.

Last recommendation is to find and read up any journal articles you can find on late revisions or revisions. Pubmed is a go place to look at. You may not have a medical background but some of the jargon will be familiar. I googled and found this right of the bat.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3805998/


Stay strong, you can do this.
Karla

[loulou123]

Hi Karl a

Thank you for your reply.

I am in the UK and the surgery is on the NHS, the consultant I saw is the top one for the group of hospitals and the plate is causing me pain and I can actually feel it in my mouth now, so I know it does need to come out - doesn't stop me being scared though! It is also the same hospital that has performed all my surgeries and Orthodontic work.

I will definitely be following your advice on looking up articles on late removal - thank you for the link

Louise