Ever come across the term maxillofacial surgeon in healthcare without knowing what it signifies? This is not surprising since most people are unfamiliar with maxillofacial surgeons or their roles in the medical field.
This article is an eye-opener aiming to highlight the significance of maxillofacial surgeons and their vital roles. It serves as an informative guide for people with maxillofacial concerns, explaining in detail the procedures involved and under what conditions you need to seek the help of a maxillofacial surgeon.
This blog also aims to prevent the consequences that may occur if such patients undergo treatment at the hands of other specialists not skilled in treating maxillofacial problems,
Knowing All About Maxillofacial Surgeons
Maxillofacial surgeons play an important role in facial healthcare due to their highly specialized training in addressing a wide variety of facial concerns. These specialists are trained extensively to identify and correct conditions related to the mouth, jaw, and facial anatomy. They remove tumours, treat misaligned jaws, conduct craniofacial surgery and undertake reconstructive facial surgery.
Education and training background
It requires many years of dental and medical training to become an oral and maxillofacial surgeon. Typically, aspiring maxillofacial surgeons complete their Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) degree, where they learn how to identify, understand, and treat injuries, disabilities, and disorders in the oral and maxillofacial regions. Then they work as junior maxillofacial surgeons, gaining one to four years of work experience under the supervision and guidance of senior maxillofacial surgeons.
Once qualified to be a senior maxillofacial surgeon, he/she leads a medical team, including an anesthetist and surgical technician. This makes such qualified and experienced surgeons the only reliable specialists when it comes to maxillofacial issues.
Contrarily other specialists like plastic surgeons have only a basic knowledge the surgeries or other knowledge related to the maxillofacial field.
They are now ready to start their career in oral and maxillofacial surgery in the government or private sector or opt for further studies.
Common Procedures Performed by Maxillofacial Surgeons
Let us now explore the surgical techniques that a maxillofacial surgeon is qualified to perform:
TMJ surgeries
TMJ (Temporomandibular Joint Disorder) is a condition where the patient undergoes symptoms like headache, popping of the jaw, or difficulty in opening or closing the mouth.
A maxillofacial surgeon performs these surgeries based on the condition of the patient and if medicines and physiotherapy fail:
- TMJ Arthroscopy: The surgeon opens a small hole in the skin above the joint, inserts an arthroscope through a narrow tube called cannula. Using tiny surgical tools inserted through the cannula, the surgeon operates on the joint to repair it.
- Open joint surgery: This procedure is performed when the TMJ disorder is severe. The surgeon removes bony growths or excess tissues and repairs or repositions the displaced or damaged discs.
Trauma-related surgeries
Injuries to the face and neck are the reasons for facial trauma, leading to difficulty in performing basic functions like eating, talking, or chewing. A maxillofacial surgeon performs these surgeries to reduce jaw and gum bone damage.
- Open reduction and internal maxillary fixation: This procedure does not cause any visible scars and is done for severe fractures involving the eye bone socket, nasal bone, or upper and lower jaw. The maxillofacial surgeon aligns the bones to a normal position using fine titanium plates and screws.
- Suture for facial wounds: The surgeon places sutures to bind the tissues together after cleaning the affected area that has been impacted, such as the cheeks, chin, or other facial parts.
Pathology-related surgeries
In cases where a portion of the jaw bone has been removed due to cancer or tumour, the surgeon reconstructs the jaw through these surgical techniques:
- Microvascular reconstruction: The surgeon reconstructs the missing jaw bone using a bone taken from the patient’s leg with the blood supply intact.
Other reconstruction surgeries
For patients with jaw fractures whose routine functions like chewing, smiling, or talking are affected, the below procedure is done:
- Facial bone reconstruction: The surgeon corrects the bone structure and restores it to its right position using his expertise
Cosmetic surgery (orthognathic surgery)
The maxillofacial surgeon performs orthognathic surgery to reshape or improve structures in the nose, chin, jaw, or cheekbones.
Here are the common procedures performed:
- Mandibular osteotomy: In cases where the lower jaw sticks out more than necessary or too little, the surgeon realigns it to the proper position using plates or screws.
- Maxillary osteotomy: For patients with protruding upper jaws or those with conditions like crossbite, the surgeon repositions the jaw to improve its functionality and aesthetics.
- Bimaxillary osteotomy: In the case of patients where both jaws have deformities, the surgeon realigns them to restore harmony to their functions and improve the facial looks.
- Rhinoplasty: The surgeon reconstructs the affected areas of the nose and rectifies the deformities, restoring the patient’s breathing function and improving the aesthetics
- Genioplasty: In patients with a receding chin that looks out of proportion, the surgeon expertly restores the chin to its original position and improves the facial looks.
Conclusion
As we can see, maxillofacial surgeons like those at Gnathos Facial are the unsung heroes in facial healthcare, playing crucial roles to restore facial functions and aesthetics through complex surgical procedures.
Expert surgeons at Gnathos Facial’s state-of-the-art hospital meticulously perform complicated surgeries to ensure the patients a quick recovery with no complications or side effects.
People need to be aware that Maxillofacial surgeons are the only qualified specialists authorized and trained to treat facial injuries and fractures. It’s essential that government agencies and other healthcare organizations realize the significance of inducting maxillofacial surgeons in every hospital. Doing so would eliminate the risk of patients suffering side effects like loss of functions in their jaw or nose due to their being treated by other specialists like plastic surgeons.