According to the technical note, an open wooden clothespin in the mouth may be a way to prevent trismus in patients.
Wooden Clothespins are a good alternative for treating patients who find it difficult to fully open their mouth when other devices, including tongue clips, dressings and splints, are not available.
“This is a simple, very economical way that will not damage the teeth,” write the authors, led by Dr. José Del Castillo Pardo de Vera, Ph.D. from the University of La Paz (Spain).
Trismus, a painful condition often referred to as jaw blockage, can affect chewing, swallowing, and breathing. It is common in those who have had trauma, inflammatory disease, tumor or orthognathic surgery, or infection.
While the temporomandibular joint trainer is an effective, convenient, and inexpensive device for improving trismus, it is not always available, so an alternative is needed.
To help people with trismus, doctors should ask the patient to place the active end of the clothespin in their mouth while pressing the other end to help open the mouth completely. When the clothespin is open, the opening of the mouth can be up to 5 cm. Another advantage of this method is that clothespins can be used unilaterally or bilaterally, the authors write.
However, the authors warn that clothespins are not medical devices that comply with the instructions of medical equipment.
“Patients must be informed of this, despite the good results found in patients over the years, and without any injuries that have occurred during the use of this method,” the authors write.