What is Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery?
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery is the specialty that deals with interventions affecting the mouth, neck and head. It deals with the prevention, study, diagnosis and treatment of diseases affecting these areas.
What pathologies does Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery treat?
The maxillofacial surgeon performs everything from wisdom tooth extractions or dental implants to cosmetic or oncological surgeries. Among the diseases he treats are problems of facial trauma, cleft lip and cleft palate. They also treat salivary gland pathology (benign and malignant tumors, among others), craniofacial deformities, cervicofacial infectious pathology, jaw cysts and temporomandibular joint pathology.
What subspecialties are there within Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery?
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery includes orthognathic surgery, implant surgery and oral surgery. This specialty is closely related to others such as Plastic Surgery, Neurosurgery, Otolaryngology and Dentistry.
When should you go to an oral and maxillofacial surgeon?
You should go to an oral and maxillofacial surgeon when you want to treat any of the aforementioned diseases. If you want to perform an implantology treatment or treat any fracture of the facial bones, you should go to his office. He should also be consulted to treat temporomandibular joint dysfunction problems, dentofacial deformities and tumors in the head and neck area.
Key words: Temporomandibular joint, Orthognathic surgery, Cleft lip, Dental implants.