blue_gypsea

As a hygienist I would say that when you are not eating a regular diet with harder crunchier foods included the plaque accumulates much more quickly and stays on your teeth until you manually remove it with a toothbrush as it's not being helped by the chewing action. However one of the things I see in probably at least 95% of the clients I see is that they completely forget to brush their tongues and this is a huge source of bad breath. I find myself that the soft toothbrush I use can't even do the job so I use a tongue brush/scrapper with toothpaste. And very cold Water helps with the gag reflex. Of course if this problem persists beyond when you are back on a regular diet I would recommend mentioning it at your next hygiene/dental appointment.

After seeing this thread and one other I talked to my surgeon about it and he said for sure necessary for bypass patients because of the blind NG tubing and the administration of NSAIDs & sugars but was not necessary for Lapband. He said a blind NG tube would actually be fine with a lapband and the only concern would be if they were exploring with a camera which wouldn't be the case in an emergency life or death situation. I decided not to get one and just keep the card behind my license. Of course this is just what my surgeon said. I only have the band, no plication so I don't know the situation with that.

Of course always check with your dr but from reading these posts it seems like every dr has a diff post op diet plan. I had 24 hrs water only, 24 hrs clear fluids, 1 wk full fluids, 1 wk puréed and then 1 week soft and after that everything. There also seems to be a lot of variation with regard to carbonated beverages and alcohol consumption as well between drs.