Need a Mouth Prop? Part 2 – Mouth Prop
This week the use of a mouth prop to prop open the mouth. We are now using the device for the following reasons:
- Create room to complete certain procedures
- Create more space than normal to for access
- Hold the mouth open when the patient is not able to
- Create room to complete certain procedures
In-surgery bleaching requires the mouth to be open to keep the mouth as a certain amount to keep the person from fully swallowing and allow the bleaching light to shine on both the upper and lower teeth at the same time. The prop also stops the lower jaw from moving around while the bleaching chemicals and light are being used. We are also preventing the bleach chemicals from being smeared onto to the tongue and gums as it is a strong irritant.
Create more space than normal to for access
When we are doing a root canal treatment on back teeth we may need to hold the mouth open more to place a clamp to hold the rubber dam and to access the canals inside the tooth with files. Some of the canals can curve towards the back of the mouth so we literally need more room to fit the dentist hand and file “around the corner”.
This same reason applies to removing teeth especially impacted wisdom teeth.
In children (and even adults) with small mouths we sometimes increase the opening of the mouth just to do normal procedures. So we have a range of mouth prop sizes to suit what the mouth opening we need, within reason of course!
Hold the mouth open when the patient is not able to
This situation especially occurs under sedation where the person in conscious but is unaware of what is going on. The cocktail of medicines used in sedation includes muscle relaxant. So if we do not prop the mouth open before the patient is fully sedated then it becomes very difficult to open the mouth at all!
If we want to swap sides during sedation then we need to place another mouth prop on the opposite side before we remove the prop away to continue treatment on the other side of the mouth. Otherwise good luck opening their mouth!
Other situations where the patient is not in control of their mouth opening are people with a stroke or other muscle disorders.
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Next week
Blog Series - The jaw joint complex of the teeth, muscles and joints