From: "Steve Harris" <sbharris@ix.RETICULATEDOBJECTcom.com>
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: "Best Practice" for Oral-Maxillofacial Patients
Date: Sun, 2 Jun 2002 22:27:59 -0600
Message-ID: <aderfk$9h$1@slb3.atl.mindspring.net>

"Russ Price" <priruss@ev1.net> wrote in message
news:vudlfuknb19r0ubnjtc9t7f7uffcd1kab1@4ax.com...
> A national news story recently moved where a member of the
> US armed forces who had recently had surgery requiring that
> his jaws be wired was trying to travel via commercial aircraft, and
> had a pair of wire cutters confiscated by airport security.  The wire
> cutters were issued to the patient by his military physician, to be
> used to cut the wires in his jaws if the patient became ill during the
> flight.
>
> I have spoken with several doctors and a registered nurse on
> this topic, and none of them have ever heard of the practice
> of providing wire cutters to jaw wiring patients.  Is this standard
> practice?  What are the criteria?


Criteria is any time it's done. Do you want to be vomiting while your jaw is
wired shut?

SBH