Jaw wiring
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The act of wiring a jaw keeps it closed for some amount of time. Originally this was as the mandibular equivalent of a cast, to fix the jaw in place while a fracture healed, but now jaws are sometimes wired for weight-loss purposes, preventing the ingestion of solid food.
Jaw wiring is a fixed intra-oral, bio-mechanical device and method for treating and controlling compulsive overeating and obesity. The device is composed of orthodontic brackets attached to the teeth, and pliable wire wrapped either around or through the brackets.[1] The brackets are optimally positioned with respect to the anterior‑posterior position of the lower jaw. The wiring is configured to suspend the patient’s lower jaw in a semi-closed, partially movable resting position which permits a moderate amount of physiologic jaw movement and relatively clear speech, while inhibiting the ingestion of solid foods.
There are basically two distinct types of Jaw wiring. They are differentiated as follows: Oral surgeons call the procedure that they provide IMF (Inter-Maxillary Fixation) and MMF (Maxillo-Mandibular Fixation). IMF is done on patients who have been subject to trauma Mandibular fracture, disease, or who need to undergo surgery to correct deformed jaws orthognathic surgery. It is typically accomplished in a hospital setting by attaching an “arch-bar” to each of the upper and lower jaws using thin wires that are threaded between and around the teeth. The arch bars completely enwrap the dental arch. The upper and lower arch bars are connected to each other with elastics, consequently holding the jaws immovably in place. In IMF the lower teeth are therefore compressed against the upper teeth. mandibular fracture. IMF is a surgically invasive procedure that may take as long as an hour to accomplish and is performed under general anaesthesia (general anesthesia). The IMF is removed after the bones have set—usually at the end of 8–10 weeks and under local anesthesia or, nitrous oxide sedation.
The Jaw wiring that is used for the purpose of weight control for overeating, obesity and compulsive overeating is a service provided solely by dental professionals— who are either general dentists or more commonly orthodontists who specialize in bonding brackets orthodontics (braces) on teeth (typically the canines and premolars human tooth), followed by wiring (not elastics) between the upper and lower teeth in a figure-8 pattern. The wiring is meant to be removed periodically to allow the jaw joints to move freely especially in the vertical direction. It is not considered to be a surgically invasive procedure. The generic term for such an application is jaw wiring. The jaw wiring used in weight control issues is called orthodontic jaw wiring (OJW) and dental jaw wiring.[2] The OJW procedure is always provided in the dentist’s office and does not require anesthesia – either to place the brackets or to wire the jaws. Unlike inter-maxillary fixation, where the upper and lower teeth are in constant contact – in OJW the upper and lower teeth are never in contact. The sole purpose of the wiring is to limit the extent to which the jaws may open beyond a defined position. The position of the jaws in OJW is termed the natural/postural physiologic rest position of the mandible. In the rest position the teeth are parted 2.0 – 4.0 mm – a position in which the lips are lightly touching. The position is maintained unconsciously. It is the initial position from which mastication, deglutition (swallowing), and speech are initiated.
The patient themselves cannot remove the IMF or the OJW braces, however in OJW, they can and must remove the wiring periodically. Both OJW and IMF oblige the patient to adhere to a liquid diet. OJW is removed when the patient has achieved their weight loss goals.
