I can relate to the anxiety big time.
That’s exactly how I felt. I kept thinking the wax was supposed to help, but every time I tried it, it just felt messy and I worried it would make things worse. I ended up ditching it after a couple of tries.The paranoia is real. Wax never worked for me either—just got stuck everywhere and made me more anxious.
The salt water rinses were my go-to, but even then, I was always paranoid about missing a spot or not rinsing long enough. The little syringe thing (I think mine was called an irrigator?) basically became my security blanket for weeks. I’d use it after every single meal, even if I only managed to eat soup or something super soft. Still felt like crumbs were lurking somewhere though… It’s honestly wild how much stress comes from just eating or talking when you’re healing.
Not gonna lie, sometimes I wondered if I was being too cautious, but the fear of infection just made me double down on every routine. It’s a relief once everything finally heals up and you can stop overthinking every bite.
I totally get the fear of missing a spot with rinsing—felt like I was on a mission every time I used that irrigator. Wax just made everything feel gunkier for me too. Did anyone else get weirdly obsessed with checking their stitches? I swear I spent half my recovery peeking in the mirror.
That mirror-checking habit is so relatable. I thought I was being super careful, but honestly, I think I just wanted to make sure nothing weird was going on in there. I even tried using my phone camera for a better angle, which turned into a mini photoshoot of my stitches—probably not my finest moment.
About the wax, I’m with you. It always felt like it made things stickier, especially after eating or drinking anything warm. Salt water rinses were my go-to. I got a bit nerdy and actually looked up the best saline ratios and even tried warming it to “body temp” for comfort. Not sure if it helped speed healing, but it felt soothing and gave me something to focus on during recovery.
Did anyone else get into gadgets for cleaning? I ended up buying an irrigator with different tips—kind of overkill, but it made me feel like I was doing everything possible to avoid infection. Curious if anyone found a techy tool that actually made a difference, or if I just fell for the marketing...
Did anyone else get into gadgets for cleaning? I ended up buying an irrigator with different tips—kind of overkill, but it made me feel like I was doing everything possible to avoid infection.
Yeah, I totally went down the gadget rabbit hole too. I picked up one of those water flossers with the “gentle” mode, thinking it’d be less traumatic for my stitches. Honestly, it was kind of a mixed bag. It helped flush out little food bits (especially in those first few days when chewing felt like a distant memory), but if I wasn’t super careful, it would sting like crazy or make things swell up a bit. So… worth it? Maybe 60%, but not the miracle tool Instagram made it out to be.
I’m with you on the wax—never really clicked for me either. Always seemed to melt or slide around after anything warm. Salt water was my MVP. I also tried those pre-mixed saline packets when I got lazy, but honestly just mixing my own worked fine.
The mirror thing cracks me up because I did the same—ended up with way too many awkward close-ups of my mouth on my phone. Guess we all turn into amateur oral surgeons post-op...
- Tried wax once, felt like it just slid around and made things messier.
- Salt water rinse was the only thing that didn’t annoy my mouth.
- Thought about getting a fancy irrigator but chickened out after reading mixed reviews.
- Mostly just toughed it out and counted down to normal food... not my favorite era.
- Also, mirror selfies of stitches? Way too many in my camera roll now.
