Brushing inside

[sakura]

Hi everyone

I had double jaw surgery on the 4th of Feb. I have elastic a that I change out once a day on my own. My ortho told me that I shouldn't attempt to open my mouth but I can brush the inside if I want to.

I'm still quite swollen so I am still having trouble brushing the very back of my teeth from the outside and I'm a bit scared to try because the last time I tried I got a bit of blood. But no matter how hard I can't I can't seem to open my mouth wide enough to slip the baby brush in. When were you able to brush the inside of your teeth? Should I attempt to open my mouth a bit to force it in?

[jaime]

At this point, you should be okay to try and shove the brush in a bit. If you were within a week of surgery I would tell you to wait, but at some point you need to be trying to open your mouth so your muscles don't get too stiff. Don't go against your ortho's recommendations but I wouldn't think forcing your mouth open a little bit to brush your teeth should be a problem.

FWIW, I was told to start brushing 24 hours after surgery. I had a baby toothbrush and just did some very basic, quick brushing with toothpaste. Nothing too rigorous.

[sakura]

Thanks for the response. I will try to give this a go as the slimy feeling is quite unbearable.

[EWUgal15]

I was using my sonicare on the front sides of my teeth starting 2 days after surgery. I didn't start brushing the lingual side and my tongue until I was at 3 weeks post op which was also when I was allowed to take my elastics off and start changing them. I remember opening my mouth for the first time post op and then trying to figure out how to close it again. It was like is forgotten how to make my mouth work.

[jaime]

I was using my sonicare on the front sides of my teeth starting 2 days after surgery. I didn't start brushing the lingual side and my tongue until I was at 3 weeks post op which was also when I was allowed to take my elastics off and start changing them. I remember opening my mouth for the first time post op and then trying to figure out how to close it again. It was like is forgotten how to make my mouth work.

That happened to me the first time I took my elastics off, too. I had to wedge my mouth open with my toothbrush and then it just stayed open. It was actually sort of funny.

[Basicgrey7]

Hey, I had surgery 2/11.

Are your incisions healed? I found when I had blood it was because my incisions weren't healed. I used wax on my hooks to prevent them poking into my incisions as it was hurting the healing process. After a couple days of this, I could brush without blood.

At first I wasn't able to get the toothbrush inside. I opened what I could and just kind of did the tops of the teeth the best I could at an angle from the outside. Eventually I could wiggle the toothbrush in and I would do a very short brushing. I knew I was stretching the jaw, so I would take a break so I wouldn't do it for so long. Do you have a baby toothbrush? Is there maybe a smaller one you can find? I think mine is a Colgate and was in the regular toothbrush aisle and says 0-2 age I think.

[Basicgrey7]

Are you still icing? I still ice every night and I think it helps with the swelling. Ibuprofen if you are allowed as well. Don't worry, you will get there

[sakura]

Hi

I managed to get a baby brush in there and i tried reaching to brush the slime off in the back but got a bit of blood so I will stop reaching that far back for now (but the slimy feel to my molar ring bothers me!!!!).

I did wax the front of my teeth initially but I stopped since it would sometimes slip into my mouth and I had a heck of a time splitting it out.

At what point were your incisions all healed?

[EWUgal15]

The slimy feeling on the molar bands took a while to go away for me. Same for the feeling on my tongue. But it will, just be patient.

Are you still icing? I still ice every night and I think it helps with the swelling. Ibuprofen if you are allowed as well. Don't worry, you will get there

I was icing every night for about 2 months post op. I think it really helped me too, so definitely keep it up.

[ivonne]

I just had my wires off at two weeks post-op and I can't fit the brush inside either, I can't wait to brush inside!
They did say to try and little by little put it inside (if I can), don't force anything, do it lightly until you can.

I am also using a lot of warm water with salt and that helps with sensitive gums, blood and helping the incisions heal faster.
Ice on my face seems to help a TON!