Hi folks,
This time last year I had a major bicycle accident that left me with a horribly broken jaw, which required immediate surgery. This was done at my local hospital, and they really did a lot to take care of me, and deal with my limited Japanese, exacerbated by the stress of the situation.
Now a year later, despite suffering no pain and being able to eat, talk, function normally, I am being told that they want to put me under again and take the plates out, because there is a small chance of possible nerve damage. This was kind of a shock to me, because it was only a few months ago that I finally felt fully recovered.
I want to get a second opinion, mainly because most of the medical journals I see online about this suggest that the plates rarely if ever need to be removed, that they advise not to remove them, unless it is causing issues. Throughout the months through my aftercare, I have felt that perhaps they are just dragging this out to get more money from me, especially when I have read about other people in other countries being fully recovered, replacement teeth finished, all within a few months as opposed to the 6+ months it took to get my implant added.
I just worry that this is a Japan thing where they want to put me under for the extremely slim chance that something may eventuate down the future, and it is actually not necessary. So I would like to get a second opinion, in English so I can ask the right questions and be reassured, and also just to get another set of eyes on my X-Rays and make sure that the right things are being done.
So does anyone here happen to have a recommendation? I see that the University of Tokyo Hospital has a surgeon who speaks English, but I thought some people here may have some experience.
Also, I do have Japanese health insurance if that matters.
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Wish I could help – I’ve got a plate in my arm that they tell me they would take out except at my age they don’t suggest it (yeah being over 50). I’ve also got nerve/tendon damage though from where they put the plate in so who knows.
As far as it goes sometimes it takes a while to schedule an appointment for certain procedures here. For instance I had my accident in January, I had to wait a week for the surgery to fix my wrist because they didn’t have an operating room available before that. So they stabilized my wrist and I waited. I am having surgery on my shoulder to fix it in June. I finally went to a private clinic to get an MRI so they could see the torn muscle/ligaments and schedule surgery even though they’d diagnosed the problem months earlier. Of course a friend in Germany got to walk around on crutches for 6 months for the same reason – they couldn’t schedule the OR any sooner. The downside of socialized medicine.
That being said you can always tell them no. It’s not like they’ll come to your house and gas you and pull the plate out there.
Could go back to your home country on holiday to get a second opinion in your native language?
I had similar surgery two years ago at Nihon Univ. Dental Hospital (4F). Doctors are top notch there, some speak English and even have a licenses to work overseas (dm me for names). People come to the department for surgeries/treatment from all over the Japan, as the department considered to be the best in the country.
Same story with the plates. Docs insisted to remove them one year after the surgery (I have few of them in upper/lower jaw). Plates removal is a surgery of a similar scale as original one – all the suffering, side effects, numbness and recovery are exactly the same. Don’t be fooled about it :). This is not a miniscule operation.
I studied that plates removal is not necessary according to western medicine – unless plates are exposed and bacteria can reach them. This can be checked within 1 year after surgery during regular check-ups. If no plates got exposed within 1 year, then it is 99.999% chance that plates will never cause any issues.
Doc confirmed this, but explained that plate removal is customary in Japan for two reasons: (a) Japanese people don’t want keeping external objects in the bodies (has some religious roots) and (b) it is covered by health insurance :).
So, I refused to remove them.
You may need a referral letter to go there, trust dental clinic provides them (harajuku) . Wishing you the best and good health