Maxillofacial surgery is an operation performed by a highly trained dental surgeon. A variety of maxillofacial procedures can treat diseases, fix injuries, or correct defects in your face, jaw, or mouth. As with any operation, maxillofacial surgery has certain risks. But the procedures help many reduce pain, fix deformities, and restore function.
What do maxillofacial surgeons do?
- Provide safe and effective office anesthesia
- Extract impacted and nonrestorable teeth (dentoalveolar surgery)
- Replace lost teeth (dental implants)
- Perform corrective jaw surgery (orthognathic jaw surgery)
- Remove complex tumors (oncologic surgery)
- Rebuild faces damaged by injury or disease (reconstructive surgery
- Relieve jaw pain (TMJ surgery)
- Perform cosmetic surgery on the face, jaws, and neck
Why is maxillofacial done?
Maxillofacial surgery involves an operation to correct a disease, injury, or defect of your face, jaw, or mouth. Maxillofacial surgeons are dental specialists who have advanced training. They perform various procedures to reduce pain, fix deformities, and restore function in the lower face.
What are the advantages of maxillofacial surgery?
Maxillofacial surgery can permanently improve,
- pain
- function
- appearance
What are the risks or complications of maxillofacial surgery?
- Bleeding
- A dry socket is a painful condition that can occur after tooth extraction involving problems with blood clots
- Infection
- Injury to teeth, lips, tongue, cheeks, chin, nasal cavity, sinuses, or maxillofacial bones or tissue
- Numbness or changes in sensation in the mouth or other areas of your face
- Pain
- Possible damage to nerves that move some of the muscles of your face
- Root fragments are a rare complication when a piece of tooth root breaks off and stays in place after surgery
- TMJ disorders