Removal of jaw surgery plates

I had a Le Forte upper jaw surgery several years ago and am now having the plates and screws removed as a last resort to see if the screws are causing my severe and frequent sinus infections. I am wondering just how bad the recovery from this is, specifically how much pain, facial swelling, and facial numbness to expect.

[StratRebel]

You might want to check the Oral and Maxillofacial surgery forum.

[Iamheretolearn]

Dear Oakwood1,
I just had the plate and screws removed on Jan 4th and it was not bad at all. You will swell but only for a couple of days..but I am now having infections at both surgical sites AGAIN! arghh but overall the surgery wasn't bad. took place in OS office and was done in about 45 min..hope that helps.

[pbenson]

I had my plates and screws removed from my upper jaw this month.  I had similar issues... first:  I had a severe sinus infection on one side of my face, which was fixed in sinus surgery.  However, I also had severe swellin on the right side of my face which was still evident after the sinus surgery.  As follow up work, I asked the doctor to look at any gland damage that may be a result of my previous jaw surgery, which may be causing the additional swelling in my cheek.  When he diolated my gland he noticed the pus was infact exuding from the top of my mouth precisely where the jaw plats and screws were and I had a severe infection in that are and in my cheek. This was clearly the root cause of everything, including the sinus infection.

[mel12313]

A related discussion, jaw plates was started.