What are the screws in the gums after the surgery?

After double jaw surgery, when patients notice the screw on the gum they are very surprised about it.

This mini screw is necessarily used for double jaw surgery but there are some patients who don’t know about it.

Today, we will talk about the screw that uses for fixation in double jaw surgery with Dr. Kim Jong Yun.

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When the patient undergoes double jaw surgery, they already well know about the titanium plate fix where we cut the bones. But as you can see in this photo what we will explain today is not the titanium plate on the surgery site, but the screw that was planted on the gum.​

Right after the surgery, it’s difficult to check the existence of the screws because their lips are swallowed and there are limitations on how much they can move their lips. After 1~2 weeks after the surgery there will be less pain and the swelling inside of the mouth is also dissipated, they can see it easily with their bare eyes.

 

Arch  bar

Fixation screws fix the upper jaw and the lower jaw during the surgery, and there were a lot of instruments that we used to use.

In the past, what it called ‘Arch Bar’ is used for intermaxillary fixation in double jaw surgery. To use ‘Arch Bar’ we needed to tie and fix the tooth and the instrument where the teeth and the gum meets. After that, we tie both of the arch bars (on the upper and lower) and tie, and do the intermaxillary fixation.

The flaw of this instrument is the high risk of scaring the gum and it took a long time we put the instrument because we tie and fix the teeth and the instrument.

 

 Surgical Hook

After that, we used to use what it called ‘Surgical Hook’.

Normally when we do the orthodontic treatment we use the braces and orthodontic wire to connect the braces. If you undergo double jaw surgery after the orthodontic treatment, like in this photo to do the intermaxillary fixation we put a surgical hook. Putting the surgical hook on the braces is complex and takes a lot of time.

​In the past, we perform double jaw surgery with an instrument like an arch bar or surgical hook.

​Nowadays, set screws around where lower gums, and they are used for double jaw surgery and orthodontic treatment and for other purposes as well. The advantages of the screw are easy to install and remove because it doesn’t support the teeth but they only stand from the bone. Therefore they don’t affect the teeth at all so it’s a very effective instrument.

The biggest purpose of this screw is the purpose of the double jaw surgery and after the surgery, they can use it for post-op orthodontic treatment.

If you will not do the orthodontic treatment generally we will remove the screw one month after the surgery. If you do, you will keep using the screw for the orthodontic treatment and remove orderly from unnecessary ones.

After removing the screws there’s small scar remains but the bleeding stops very quickly and in most the case there are no extra bleeding and inflammation occurs.

Till the surgery site healed you can avoid stimulation like eating something spicy. The tiny holes that happen where the screws are removed will heal well, the bone will grow again and the gum will cover well.

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Today we explained the screws to intermaxillary fixation. We learn about this because it is something that always uses for double jaw surgery and it remains after the surgery but there are patients who still don’t know about it well. Please check the video down below for more detailed information!