Hi, I need help please
I had a resection of my right mandible due to tumor (ameloblastoma), the affected bone was removed and a metal plate was put into it and my jaw is wired shut, my Dr said depending on the healing, a bone graft would be done after 6 - 8weeks. Well a few days after removing the the bone, the wound broke down, he said it was caused by an infection, when I try to rinse with salt/water, the water oozes out of the surgery site under my jaw, leaving the wound really wet and dripping . Dr said he would need to debride the jaw infection and he would need to remove the metal plate and my right jaw would be without metal nor bone for 6-8weeks when he's ready to do the bone graft.
What I want to know is, is this correct? And what does it mean to debride? When he debrides the infection does that assure me there won't be further infections? I rinse up to 6times a day with salt and water and up to 3times with cordysol, I also brush up to 3times is this good enough?

Hi Mrs Banks,

I'm sorry you are going through all of this.
Evidently there is a bad infection at the surgical site that the surgeon feels is significant enough to warrant a surgical debridement. This means he would go in to that area, remove the metal plate and scrape out the infected bone. It would be very risky if not impossible to replace that metal plate given the extent of the infection until he felt confident that the area was healthy enough to replace it. This type of infection has the potential of spreading further into the bone, the tissue and beyond. It is not wise to wait and see what happens.

Unfortunately, it is not a question of how much you rinse or with what.... or how often you brush. The bacteria needs to be physically removed.

If you have doubts about what your dentist has told you and you want to seek a second opinion... I would urge you to do that immediately. You would need to bring all of your pre and post op xrays along with the surgical report to the new oral surgeon so he can have a visual history of what has transpired.

I know this is scary and you've been through so much already. Please take this seriously and decide what your course of action is going to be.

Thanks for sharing your story here...... please check back with us and let us know how you are doing!

All the best to you
Bryanna

Thank you so much for your responce Bryanna.

We've already fixed monday for the procedure (debridement) and I really hope that would help cure the infection. Am just puzzled cos there was no leaking before the main surgery, what must have caused this infection? My doctor told me it may be bacteria left by the tumor removed

I'd let you know how it goes on moday and how I'm doing

Thank you once again

Mrs Banks

Mrs Banks,

There is always some residual bacteria after the surgery. The severity of the infection can be due to a number of reasons. Let's hope this second surgery has a much better outcome!

Will be thinking of you... please check back with an update after the surgery when you feel up to it.

Bryanna