Oral and maxillofacial surgery is a dental specialty that involves the diagnosis and treatment of conditions concerning the face, mouth, jaws, and neck. This sounds like a very broad description but the truth is that oral and maxillofacial surgeons are capable of performing a wide variety of procedures in all of these anatomical areas. In this article, you will learn about what this specialty entails and when should you look into oral maxillofacial surgery near you.
Who can you become an oral and maxillofacial surgeon?
Oral and maxillofacial surgery is considered by many to be the connection between dentistry and medicine. To become a specialist in this area, a dentist must train for four to six years after dental school. During this time, they learn to diagnose and treat complex conditions like temporomandibular joint disorder, severe facial trauma, congenital defects, and others. They often train in a hospital with doctors of different specialties such as plastic surgery, emergency medicine, internal medicine, and anesthesiology. This contact with the medical world gives them another perspective on the treatment of dental issues and widens their knowledge of medical conditions that can affect their patient’s oral health. In some cases, medical doctors specialize in this area. To do so, they must follow the same four- or six-year program as dentists.
Wisdom tooth extraction
Wisdom teeth are the third molars, which tend to erupt between the ages of 17 and 21. In most patients, wisdom teeth cause problems and need to be extracted. Generally, a dentist in Naples can perform this procedure. However, some cases are very complex and may require the attention of an oral and maxillofacial surgeon. This is the case of impacted wisdom teeth, which occur when your wisdom teeth can’t erupt because there isn’t enough room for them, or because they are not angled vertically. This can cause a lot of pain, and extracting them can be very complicated considering the nerves and blood vessels that surround them.
Dental implants
Dental implants are the most advanced form of tooth replacement. This procedure can be performed by a dentist near you, but in some cases, it is best to go with an oral and maxillofacial surgeon. They have more experience performing dental implant surgery and can implement different techniques to improve and shorten your recovery. They can also achieve better results in patients with difficult cases such as jawbone deterioration. This condition can make it difficult for dental implant surgery to be successful since the implants are inserted in the jawbone and require the bone around them to grow. Oral and maxillofacial surgeons can perform a bone graft on these patients to improve the health of their jawbone and ensure successful results.
Facial trauma
A common reason why people undergo oral and maxillofacial surgery in Naples is facial injuries. These often occur in motor vehicle accidents and have different degrees of severity. Facial trauma can cause skin and oral lacerations, knocked-out teeth, and bone fractures. These fractures can occur in the jaws, the cheekbones, the nose, or the orbits. Oral and maxillofacial surgeons are highly skilled to treat all of these conditions with the best possible outcome, which is important in a situation with such a high psychological impact.
Other procedures
Oral and maxillofacial surgeons have the skills to diagnose and treat other conditions such as congenital deformities like cleft lip and palate, obstructive sleep apnea, temporomandibular joint disorder, head, neck, and oral cancers, and salivary gland disease. Also, oral and maxillofacial surgeons often specialize in different anesthesia techniques, allowing them to not only use local anesthesia during their procedures but also general.