What Is Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery?
The face and neck are the body parts that are always in the public eye. It is not surprising that every person wants to have a healthy and beautiful face and neck. An oral and maxillofacial surgeon deals with some facial and neck problems.
Oral and maxillofacial surgery is a branch of medicine combining dentistry and surgery and is concerned with soft tissue and maxillary disorders. Surgeons help eliminate not only inflammation itself, but also its consequences. They are also engaged in the treatment of cancerous conditions regardless of their malignancy, correction of congenital deformities, and acquired defects resulting from mechanical trauma, illness, etc.
An oral and maxillofacial surgeon is an extremely demanding job: this doctor sometimes has to do very elaborate work, so they must be experienced, careful and exact in their manipulations. The surgeon works in continuous cooperation with physicians, oncologists, dentists, plastic surgeons, and other specialized doctors. An oral and maxillofacial surgeon must have a store of knowledge from different branches of medicine. Thanks to teamwork with other doctors, this specialist can make precise diagnoses and provide the patients with comprehensive specialized care.
The Most Common Diseases
The most common disorders an oral and maxillofacial surgeon deals with are:
- Pus accumulation can start in a muscle, subcutaneous tissues, or even in a bone. An abscess requires urgent surgical treatment since the suppurative focus can burst at any time and spread to healthy tissues. The consequences are unpredictable.
- This disorder is typically associated with inflammation of lymph nodes. In most cases, such inflammation affects lymph nodes of the head and neck.
- This disease is also treated by dentists. Periodontitis is caused by damaged periodontal ligaments, with which teeth are fixed to the law cartilage. Periodontitis can be either acute or chronic. The most characteristic signs of periodontitis are pain, fever, weakness, and feeling unwell.
There are a lot of conditions that require the help of an oral and maxillofacial surgeon. In each of these cases, a specialist’s advice is necessary.
Oral and Maxillofacial Pathologies Treatment Methods
An oral and maxillofacial surgeon is a specialty that involves surgery. However, this doctor may use non-surgical treatments in their patients: much depends on the diagnosis and clinical picture of the disease.
Surgery
The operation to eliminate oral and maxillofacial pathologies is performed only after a thorough preliminary examination of the patient. A correct, accurate and complete diagnosis enables the doctor to make the right treatment program. Effective and timely surgical treatment permits the patient to return to normal quickly and forget about health problems for a long time. Treatment results largely depend on early diagnosis: foreign clinics boast modern high-precision equipment enabling correct diagnosis and immediate treatment start.
Surgeries are mainly performed using minimally invasive techniques and invisible accesses (in maxillofacial surgery, intraoral access can be considered one of such examples). Skin incisions are made in less visible places; only cosmetic sutures are used. These techniques help avoid scar tissue formation, thus giving an excellent aesthetic appearance. An experienced surgeon can make scars almost invisible even in complicated cases. Aesthetic appearance is what makes the doctor choose a surgery method carefully. Restoring functions of all organs and tissues of the craniomaxillofacial complex is no less essential.
Non-Surgical Treatment
Oral and maxillofacial surgeons use these non-surgical treatments:
- drug therapy: antibacterial, detoxification, anti-inflammatory medications, etc.;
- physiotherapy accelerating tissue regeneration and giving a general strengthening effect;
- sclerotherapy, etc.
Non-surgical therapy is often used together with surgery, which is the basis of maxillofacial surgeon’s work. Symptomatic therapy is prescribed after surgery to relieve pain and swelling. Before the operation, medications help the patient relax and stabilize their psychological state.
Rehabilitation
Curing oral and maxillofacial pathologies is quite difficult and time-consuming. Rehabilitation also requires some attention and time. Post-therapy rehabilitation helps relieve pain and swelling and eliminate other surgery effects, thus bringing the patient back to normal as soon as possible. Rehabilitation includes professional oral care, preventive dental examinations, health-resort treatment, physiotherapy, and other procedures prescribed by the doctor. The timely treatment of concomitant diseases (such as caries, periodontitis, tonsillitis, otitis, etc.) and their consequences are also of crucial importance.
If you have any problems that fall within the competence of an oral and maxillofacial surgeon, you should not delay a consultation with professionals.