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Oral or Maxillofacial Surgeon: Find the Right Medical Professional for You

Oral SurgeonAre you too confused between the similarity and the differences between the two professions? Either you can analyze it yourself or take assistance from a medical health practitioner. To understand the difference between the maxillofacial or oral surgeon, continue reading.

Difference between an Oral Surgeon and Oral Maxillofacial Surgeon

These two lines of practice are generally creating a problem for the people who are looking to get a particular condition treated. There are a few similarities and many differences between an oral surgeon and a maxillofacial surgeon. Here is how they differ:

Oral Maxillofacial Surgeon These are oral surgeons too but they underwent additional training to earn knowledge on complex medical issues. The extensive knowledge that the oral maxillofacial surgeons obtain is on neck, jaws, and mouth.

Surgeons with this designation earn a medical license which helps them to administer anesthesia properly and perform extensive surgeries. A person is referred to a maxillofacial surgeon when someone undergoes a facial or dental trauma.

Oral maxillofacial surgeons hold the license to perform the highest position of dental surgery. Other surgeries that oral maxillofacial surgeons are capable of performing are:

Nasal cavity surgery

Gum surgery

Facial trauma surgery

Oral Surgeon

The oral surgeons are qualified and trained to correct dental issues. They can handle problems related to wisdom tooth and help eliminate infections from teeth, gums, and jaws. They also help patients that need tooth replacement.

A maxillofacial or oral surgeon is a dental specialist who treats injuries, diseases and defects in the neck, jaws, face jaws, soft and hard tissues inside the mouth, and maxillofacial (face and jaws) region.

From routine oral surgical treatment, complex facial reconstruction surgery to wisdom tooth extractions, there are many treatments and procedures that an oral surgeon can provide you.

However, when there is a complicated challenge, the doctors that treat it are generally referred to as oral maxillofacial surgeons.

1. Tooth and Bone Loss

The problem of missing teeth can be solved by oral surgeons who can perform dental implants surgery in the jawbone.

2. Facial Trauma and Injury

Dislocated or fractured jaws, facial trauma are some of the issues that can be corrected by an oral surgeon. Oral surgeons on a routine basis treat people who have suffered oral and facial lacerations.

3. Impacted Wisdom Teeth

Wisdom teeth are also known as the third molar. The wisdom teeth do not come in properly and soften faces hindrance by the bone or the tissues of the gum. A surgeon can provide treatment for the same.

4. Congenital Defects of the Jaw

There are some special cases in which the lower and the upper jaws do not grow or develop at the same rate which may affect the appearance. It may also can a problem in the normal functioning of the jaw.

The abnormality of the jaw can be by birth and in some cases, it may develop later on. With the help of the surgery, a medical professional can help correct the problem.

5. Detecting Oral Cancer

A professional will study the symptoms like presence of the abnormal lumps, red and white patches, hoarseness, chronic sore throat, difficulty in breathing, etc.

6. Sleep Apnea

It is a condition in which a person stops breathing multiple times while sleeping. It is mostly caused due to the bad position of the jaw or due to excessive soft tissue masks in the airway opening. Surgeons use various methods to treat sleep apnea.

7. Temporomandibular Joint Disorder (TMJ)

It is a condition in which the structure of the jaw is abnormal. A qualified surgeon can provide corrective treatment or surgery for a problem.

If you are looking for a savvy dentist in Nashua, NH then you will be surprised as there are multiple options available. You can consult your family doctor or health practitioner who can recommend you to a maxillofacial or a dentist. 

Is Maxillofacial Surgery Dangerous?

Make sure that you research the experienced surgeons in your area. If you are looking to get dental surgery in Nashua then you can take reference from your family doctor.

Some of the risks involved with maxillofacial surgery are:

Jaw fracture

Infection

Nerve injury

Blood loss

Jaw joint pain

Immediately after the surgery, you may experience some problems like:

Swelling

Pain

Bleeding

Is the Surgery Painful?

This is the most common misconception about the maxillofacial surgery. Just like any other surgery, a patient is put on anesthesia.

After the surgery, you may feel soreness, swelling or pain. But it eventually subsides with time. To help with the pain patients are also provided with the medication.

An oral surgeon is skilled and trained to perform the following procedures:

Placing dental implants

Treating facial implants and trauma

Alleviating pain

Removing impacted and diseased teeth

Administering anesthesia

Performing jaw surgeries

Treating teeth with cavities

Evaluating and administering dental conditions

Performing corrective jaw surgeries

With the right treatments and approach, you can gain back the confidence to laugh, speak, eat and enjoy life.