Hi again everyone,

Do any of you have any experience with patients complaining, or indicating
that salt water swishing can actually aggravate a mouth sore and impede the
healing process, rather than help in the healing process. I believe it can,
but have never been able to ascertain this.

I wrote you about my torus surgery on 5/26/07 in the "suture thread". Went
to dentist last Thursday and the stitches were indeed gone like I said (ie I
swallowed them). He said the surgery looked okay and I told him it was real
sore and hurt when I swallowed, etc etc. I go back next Thursday to discuss
the details of my supposed upcoming implant, and I told him I am not having
the implant until the torus heals.

Anyway I originally used "Amosans" wound cleanser to swish in my mouth (it
is the best thing you can use IMO - marketed by Oral B), but you can't buy
it (or order it) anymore in any pharmacy, so you have to order it somewhere
on the Internet. I ran out of it, and switched to my old standby
"saltwater". I could not tell if the saltwater was helping or hurting, so I
quit using it, and just swish with warm water now. I had a pizza burn over
30 years ago, and it wouldn't heal, and I asked an oral surgeon if I should
quit using the saltwater, and he agreed that it could be possible it was
making the situation worse. After a round of antibiotics, and picking a
bone chip out of the roof of my mouth, it finally got better.

Just wondered if anyone has ever heard of this phenomena (ie can saltwater
swishing aggravate a wound and actually make it worse). You know what
happens when you poor salt into an open wound - ouch .

I also have a side question. I am having an EGD (endoscopic investigation
of esophagus, stomach and duodenum) on Tuesday, and I know the torus surgery
will still be sore (a lot of the white pseudo membrane is still there, and
red around it - BTW how long will it take for the white to go away by the
granulation process). There is no way I will ask my gastro about this and
risk him canceling the procedure. Do you think the endoscope could rub up
against my healing torus (position #17) and cause any problems. I doubt it
because they give you a mouthpiece before you go under (he uses Versed, but
it knocks you out completely even though he calls it conscious sedation -
lol), and he passes the scope through the center of the mouthpiece and
therefore it should steer clear of the sides of my jaws I would think. I am
going through with the EGD without mentioning it to him, but I am just
wondering if you could offer a comment on this also - so maybe I can have a
better piece of mind .

Thanks...Pete

Pete wrote:
Hi again everyone,

Do any of you have any experience with patients complaining, or
indicating that salt water swishing can actually aggravate a mouth
sore and impede the healing process, rather than help in the healing
process. I believe it can, but have never been able to ascertain
this. I wrote you about my torus surgery on 5/26/07 in the "suture
thread". Went to dentist last Thursday and the stitches were indeed
gone like I said (ie I swallowed them). He said the surgery looked
okay and I told him it was real sore and hurt when I swallowed, etc
etc. I go back next Thursday to discuss the details of my supposed
upcoming implant, and I told him I am not having the implant until
the torus heals. Anyway I originally used "Amosans" wound cleanser to
swish in my
mouth (it is the best thing you can use IMO - marketed by Oral B),
but you can't buy it (or order it) anymore in any pharmacy, so you
have to order it somewhere on the Internet. I ran out of it, and
switched to my old standby "saltwater". I could not tell if the
saltwater was helping or hurting, so I quit using it, and just swish
with warm water now. I had a pizza burn over 30 years ago, and it
wouldn't heal, and I asked an oral surgeon if I should quit using
the saltwater, and he agreed that it could be possible it was making
the situation worse. After a round of antibiotics, and picking a
bone chip out of the roof of my mouth, it finally got better. Just
wondered if anyone has ever heard of this phenomena (ie can
saltwater swishing aggravate a wound and actually make it worse). You
know what happens when you poor salt into an open wound - ouch
. I also have a side question. I am having an EGD (endoscopic
investigation of esophagus, stomach and duodenum) on Tuesday, and I
know the torus surgery will still be sore (a lot of the white pseudo
membrane is still there, and red around it - BTW how long will it
take for the white to go away by the granulation process). There is
no way I will ask my gastro about this and risk him canceling the
procedure. Do you think the endoscope could rub up against my
healing torus (position #17) and cause any problems. I doubt it
because they give you a mouthpiece before you go under (he uses
Versed, but it knocks you out completely even though he calls it
conscious sedation - lol), and he passes the scope through the
center of the mouthpiece and therefore it should steer clear of the
sides of my jaws I would think. I am going through with the EGD
without mentioning it to him, but I am just wondering if you could
offer a comment on this also - so maybe I can have a better piece of
mind . Thanks...Pete




The salt water can be irritating if it's too concentrated. 1/2 tsp.
to 8 oz. of warm water is about right.
The pseudomembrane and granulation healing time is in direct
proportion to the size of the surgical wound. IIRC, the oral
epithelium advances from the edge of the wound at about 1/2 mm/day.
It is foolish to withhold information from your surgeon or
anesthesiologist. I doubt it would cause a problem, but do you want
the anesthesiologist to stop your induction because he/she doesn't
know what it is and is afraid of being blamed for something he/she
didn't do?
Steve