To study the effect of mental nursing in cosmetic plastic surgery and debridement suture surgery for patients with maxillofacial trauma. Methods A total of 54 patients with maxillofacial trauma who underwent cosmetic plastic debridement and suture in our hospital from April 2022 to April 2023 were randomly divided into control group and observation group, with 27 cases in each group. The control group was given routine nursing, and the observation group was given mental nursing. The adverse emotions, stress indicators and complications were compared between the two groups. Results The scores of anxiety and depression in the two groups after intervention were lower than those before intervention, and those in the observation group were lower than the control group (P <0.05). Serum cortisol (COR) and norepinephrine (NE) in the two groups were lower than those before intervention, and those in the observation group were lower than those in the control group (P <0.05). The incidence of complications in the observation group was 7.41%, which was lower than 18.52% in the control group (P <0.05). Conclusion The application of mental nursing in cosmetic plastic surgery and debridement suture surgery for patients with maxillofacial trauma is effective, which can reduce the adverse emotions of patients, improve their stress indicators, effectively prevent complications.