Dept of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

Oral and Maxillofacial surgery is the branch dealing with diseases of teeth and facial skeleton.

Our department deals with various oral and maxillofacial interventions like:

Tooth removal or extractions

Tooth extraction means pulling out a tooth from its socket. This procedure is completely painless as they are performed under the support of anesthesia inorder to make it more comfortable for the patient.

Indications for extraction of tooth are:

Severely damaged or decayed teeth

Non restorable caries

Loosened tooth

Therapeutic reasons ( in cases of crowding of teeth)

Malpositioned tooth

Fractured tooth

Dental Departments

3rd molar or wisdom tooth removal

These are used for kids who have lost their baby tooth before shedding time. So that they hold space for adult teeth to grow in.

What are impacted 3^rd molar teeth?

Impaction happens when your tooth become partially or fully trapped in gums or jawbone.

Third molars, also known as wisdom tooth are 4 in number and are located at end of the arch or back of the jaw. These are last to erupt in the oral cavity by 17 to 22 years of age.

Have you ever wondered why they are called wisdom?

They are termed as wisdom tooth because they erupt by the time a person become wiser, as they appear late when a person matures and enters adulthood.

These can erupt and remain healthy and uninfected in many whereas, many cases indicate their emergency removal, especially when they exhibit presence of infections and other pathologies.

At times, they erupt partially with gum growth over them resulting in gum inflammation and severe pain. These cases also show presence of food impaction beneath the growth making the whole scenario worse.

Some individuals show the presence of 3rd molars deep inside the bone. These are detected only on radiographs as they do not show any evidence of eruption. All these cases if symptomatic leads to extraction procedure if unattended. Procedure of extraction completely depends on the tooth angulation and position. Some cases demand surgical removal whereas, others only need forceps extraction. This completely depends on individual patient case and cannot be predicted.

Bone pathologies like cysts and tumors

Cysts associated with teeth and jawbone

Abnormal growth and lesions associated with teeth and jaw bone indicate the presence of cysts or tumors.

Cysts are fluid filled lesions whereas tumors present as a growth or a mass. Even though most of them are benign and non cancerous, many can invade and destroy the surrounding structures which eventually leads to fracture of jaw bone.

Symptoms associated includes:

Swelling in the jaws

Pain

Displaced teeth

Jaw fracture

Numbness and tingling of the nerves causing lips, teeth, or gums numbness

Loose teeth

Abscess (pocket of pus) formation

Treatment depends on the type, area and extent of involvement. Medical therapy in combination with surgical therapy can help to remove them without risk of recurrence.

Cyst enucleation is the process of complete removal of the cyst with its lining and sometimes with the surrounding bone.

Procedure is performed under local anethesia. It involves raising of flap (gum)over the cyst and complete excision followed by wound closure. Further evaluation and follow up is carried out in specific intervals to prevent recurrence.

Jaw pain and disorders

Any pain in the mouth, jaws and face is orofacial pain. These can arise due to multiple reasons, however more than 95% pain is of dental origin. Other sources include muscle pain, neuropathic pain (from nerves), bone pain, pain from sinus, salivary gland associated pain, ear pain, headache etc.

A joint is an area where two bones are attached for movement. TMJ is the jaw joint and is responsible for jaw movements which includes speaking, chewing, yawning etc.

Any condition giving rise to pain, tenderness and limitation of jaw movements comes under TMJ disorders.

Disorders include :

TMJ dislocation

Dislocation is the displacement of one or more bones in a joint.

Treatment include reduction of joint and Reccurent dislocation may require surgical interventions.

TMJ Ankylosis

Ankylosis presents as fusion of jaw joint limiting jaw movements

This condition needs surgical therapy to remove abnormal attachment.

MPDS

Myofascial pain syndrome presents with some trigger points over the facial muscles which triggers pain when stimulated . This occurs due to spasm , tension and fatigue of masticatory muscles (muscles that help in chewing).

MPDS

Myofascial pain syndrome presents with some trigger points over the facial muscles which triggers pain when stimulated . This occurs due to spasm , tension and fatigue of masticatory muscles (muscles that help in chewing).

Arthritic pain

A type of degenerative joint disease which may present with clicking and popping sounds in joint region.

This may occur when the disc gets displaced in between the bone contacts.

Symptoms include :

Inflammation around the jaw joint

Tenderness of the jaw

Grating, creaking or clicking sounds

Ear or neck pain

Headaches

An ache or a sharp stab when moving the jaw

Restricted jaw movement

Difficulty chewing

Tooth pain

Major and minor traumas

Major traumas usually presents with fractures and displacements and may require immediate treatment like fracture reduction and fixation.

However , treatment completely depends on the extent of injury .

Thus a variety of maxillofacial procedures can treat diseases, fix injuries or correct defects in your face, jaw or mouth and these procedures help to reduce pain, fix deformities and restore function.
The group of maxillofacial surgeon we have in our clinic are all expertied in their field and we also have hospital attachments and tie ups so as to transfer surgical cases to respective hospitals.