Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery

Orthognathic surgery is a corrective jaw surgery that is designed to straighten or realigns your jaw, and correct related skeletal deformities that a patient may require.

Facial injuries include injuries involving the mouth, face and jaw. They affect the upper jaw, lower jaw, cheek, nose, eye socket, or forehead.

These range from facial cuts and lacerations to more serious problems, such as broken teeth and facial bones. These injuries may happen during automobile accidents, sports or recreational activities, fights or assaults, work-related tasks, projects around the house or accidental falls.

Treatment for facial injuries differs depending on the location and severity of your injury. Patients with facial injuries may additional medical problems. Your doctor will arrange necessary specialists depending on your medical conditions.

Rare growths or lesions develop in the jawbone or the soft tissues in the mouth and face that are called as Jaw cysts and tumours. Jaw tumors and cysts, now and again called odontogenic tumors and cysts, can range greatly in length and severity. These growths are normally noncancerous (benign), however they can be competitive and invade the encompassing bone and tissue and can displace tooth.

Depending on the type of growth or lesion, the stage of growth, and symptoms treatment options for jaw tumors and cysts can be decided. Mouth, jaw and face (oral and maxillofacial) surgeons can treat your jaw tumor or cyst usually by surgery, or in some cases, by medical therapy or a combination of surgery and medical therapy.

The temporomandibular joint or jaw joint is located in front of the ear where the skull and the lower jaw meet. The joint enables the lower jaw (mandible) to move and function. The joint itself is made up of two bones that are separated by a disc of cartilage. Ligaments and muscles surround the joint.

Problems with the jaw joint are very common. In some instances only the muscles are affected (myofacial pain dysfunction) whereas in others the cartilages and ligaments may also be at fault (internal derangement of temporomandibular joint).

1. Joint noise - such as cracking, clicking, crunching, grating or popping.
2. Pain - usually a dull ache in and around the ear. The pain may radiate, i.e move forwards along the cheekbone or downwards into the neck.
3. Headache
4. Limited mouth opening.

Most jaw joint problems are made worse by chewing and are aggravated at times of stress.

Trismus is the medical term where a person have an inability to open their mouth, making it difficult to eat, speak and maintain proper oral hygiene. The muscles of mastication plays an important role, allowing us to chew our food. Damage to any one of these mastication muscles can cause limitations in mouth opening and the inability to chew due to pain. This pain reflex is often referred to as “muscle guarding” and can develop when the muscle fibers provoke pain as they stretch. Pain causes muscles to contract, resulting in a decrease in range of motion that is uncontrollable by the patient.

The earlier you start treatment, the better the chance for a great recovery. It includes:

1. Use of a stretching device: These devices fit between the upper and lower jaw.
2. Medication: Your dentist may prescribe a muscle relaxant, pain reliever or anti-inflammatory medication.
3. Physical therapy involves massaging and jaw stretching.

A cleft is a split or gap in the upper lip and/or roof of the mouth (palate). It is present from birth. The gap is there because during the development in the womb , parts of the baby's face didn't join together properly.

The goals of treatment for cleft lip and palate are to improve the child's ability to eat, speak and hear normally and to achieve a normal facial appearance.

1. Cleft lip repair : The surgeon makes incisions on both sides of the cleft and creates flaps of tissue to close the separation in the lip. The flaps are then stitched together, including the lip muscles. The repair should create a more normal lip appearance, structure and function. Initial nasal repair, if needed, is usually done at the same time.
2. Cleft palate repair : Depending on your child's situation various procedures may be used to close the separation and rebuild the roof of the mouth (hard and soft palate). The surgeon makes incisions on both sides of the cleft and repositions the tissue and muscles. The repair is then stitched closed.
3. Ear tube surgery : Ear tubes may be placed to reduce the risk of chronic ear fluid, which can lead to hearing loss for children with cleft palate. Ear tube surgery involves placing tiny bobbin-shaped tubes in the eardrum to create an opening to prevent fluid buildup.
4. Surgery to reconstruct appearance : Additional surgeries may be needed to improve the appearance of the mouth, lip and nose.

Oral cancer

Oral cancer is also known as mouth cancer. It is a cancer of the lining of the lips, mouth, or upper throat. It most commonly starts in the mouth as a painless white patch that thickens, develops red patches, an ulcer, and continues to grow.

It is treated the same way many other cancers are treated. Surgery is done to remove the cancerous growth, followed by radiation therapy and/or chemotherapy (drug treatments) to destroy any remaining cancer cells.