Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery

What is maxillofacial surgery?

Maxillofacial surgery is a special type of dentistry. It involves operations to correct diseases, injuries and defects of your face, jaw or mouth. Maxillofacial surgeons are advanced specialists who diagnose and treat problems with:

• Bones and tissues of your jaw and lower face (maxillofacial area).
• Roof of your mouth (palate).
• Teeth.

Why is maxillofacial surgery done?

Maxillofacial surgery is performed to:

• Improve jaw function.
• Relieve pain

Maxillofacial surgery can address a wide variety of dental problems and conditions, such as:

• Diagnosing reasons for chronic dental pain.
• Preparing the mouth for dental implants and prostheses (such as dentures).
• Placing dental implants.
• Removing (extracting) impacted teeth.
• Treat oral diseases.

Procedures can also treat jaw problems, such as:

• Bone grafting, or transplanting bone from another area of the body to replace bone that’s missing in your jaw.
• Reconstructing your jaw to correct an abnormal bite.
• Treating temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders that affect the area where your lower jaw attaches to your skull.
• Treating injuries related to trauma to your face, jaw and mouth.

Other reasons to perform maxillofacial surgery include:

• Correcting congenital (present at birth) abnormalities such as cleft lip and palate.
• Diagnosing and treating cysts, tumors, cancer and other growths in your head and neck.
• Diagnosing reasons for chronic facial pain.
• Treating facial trauma (injury), such as facial fractures or damaged maxillofacial tissue.