Role of a Maxillofacial Surgeon

Oral and maxillofacial surgeons are experts in diagnosing and treating a wide variety of facial complex and skeletal conditions, including jaws and oral cavities.

In both medicine and dentistry, contemporary training helps oral and maxillofacial surgeons to treat disorders that require experience in both fields. This includes a variety of common oral surgical complications (e.g. impacted teeth or dental implants), oral cancer, facial trauma, salivary gland disease, TMJ disorders, jaw and congenital facial disproportion, and other benign pathologies.


Patients are referred by both general and specialist dental and medical practitioners to an oral and maxillofacial surgeon. In several cases, oral and maxillofacial surgeons, as part of multidisciplinary teams, work together with other clinicians such as orthodontists, ear and throat surgeons, plastic and reconstructive surgeons, and oncologists to improve the care of major mouth, face, and jaw diseases and conditions.

Wisdom Teeth when Impacted

Often known as third molars, the wisdom teeth often fail to get into the gum tissue or bone properly and become affected. To help ease the discomfort and to reduce the patient's risk of contracting a potentially harmful infection, an oral surgeon may remove infected wisdom teeth.

Bone Loss and Tooth Loss

An oral surgeon may insert dental implants in the jawbone when a patient has missing teeth, which will act as permanent replacement tooth roots. The patient undergoes a healing process that can take several weeks after the titanium implants are inserted into the bone. The titanium implant is attached to the bone after this process is finished, and the patient returns to the oral surgeon for the artificial tooth top or crown placement. Often, before inserting the implant, it is important for the oral surgeon to perform a bone graft. If there is not enough bone present to firmly hold the titanium post which makes up the implant, a bone graft is always performed.

Facial Damage and Injury

Patients that have sustained facial injuries (fractured or dislocated jaw) should be immediately seen by an oral surgeon so that the jaw can be reset. Oral surgeons also offer care and treatment regularly for individuals who have sustained facial and oral lacerations.

Sleep Apnea

He or she regularly stops breathing while sleeping when a person has sleep apnea. Sometimes, sleep apnea is caused by a poorly placed jaw at the opening of the airway. For sleep apnea treatment, there are a variety of surgical procedures used. To decide which surgical choice is best if surgery is deemed appropriate, the oral surgeon will work closely with the patient's sleep specialists.

TMJ Disorder

If a temporomandibular joint (TMJ) condition is caused by an abnormality in the structure of the jaw, an oral surgeon may be able to give the patient relief by surgically fixing the issue.

Visit Dr. Wooten at Oral and Facial Surgery of Oklahoma. He is highly recommended for treating the aforementioned problems when related to your teeth.

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