What is an Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon?
After completing four years of dental school, oral surgeons spend another four years in a hospital-based residency program for surgery. They are trained alongside other medical residents in the techniques of emergency medicine, general surgery, and anesthesiology. They are the only health care specialists aside from anesthesiologists who can administer all levels of sedation, up to general anesthesia.
What do Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons do?
Oral and maxillofacial surgeons focus on treating problems related to the hard and soft tissues of the face, mouth, and jaws.
Following are some of the procedures performed by Oral Surgeons at Westmount Dental:
- Tooth extractions: Possibly, the most common ones are impacted wisdom teeth.
- Corrective jaw surgery: Sometimes needed when orthodontics is not enough to correct a misaligned bite. In other cases, surgical treatment is necessary to repair congenital abnormalities or to treat severe orthodontic conditions, skeletal problems, and other disorders where the bones of the face and jaw may need to be reshaped and repositioned.
- Cleft lip/palate surgery: A special type of surgery often performed by oral surgeons to correct the changes in facial structure caused by this birth defect.
- Reconstructive surgery: May be necessary after traumatic dental injury or facial trauma resulting from an auto accident or workplace injury.
Oral surgeons also treat severe cases of obstructive sleep apnea, facial pain, and infection, as well as biopsies, removal of lesions, and diagnosis and treatment of oral cancers.