Fractured jaw
Where the jaw is fractured in a complicated manner plating the bone will probably be the chosen form of reparation and when the soft tissues have healed oral hygiene would not be too difficult to maintain. The problem would be during the early part of treatment where the mouth will very painful and the patient very reluctant to clean thoroughly, so it is important that they attend the dental surgery to assist them in keeping their mouth as clean as possible. In the early part of their rehabilitation, warm salt mouth rinses as often as possible I have found to be very useful, the patient can only tolerate a soft tooth brush, so it is important to establish good cleaning as their pain diminishes. With more straight forward fractures the tried and tested method of treatment is to wire the upper and lower jaws together and thus immobilise them. This makes cleaning the teeth very awkward to say the least. If the patient has some teeth missing and subsequent gaps then a fine brush can be inserted and manipulated through the gap. If there are no gaps then cleaning the outer surfaces with a tooth brush and rinsing with an antibacterial mouth wash is really all that can be done. Fortunately the wires are not there for that long, probably about 6 weeks, and as soon as they are removed, the patient must then attend the dental surgery for an examination and scale polish plus oral hygiene instruction to return the mouth to full health. The easiest way to keep a fractured jaw site clean is to try and prevent it happening in the first place by avoiding arguments with hard objects.(published with permission in writing from:http://www.appledore.co.uk/site.htm)
