Treating Facial Trauma
Patients with facial trauma have often gone through extremely emotional and painful situations that resulted in their injuries. The unique circumstances surrounding how the injuries occurred means a healthcare professional must approach treatment with compassion and understanding. Unfortunately, not every emergency room doctor or primary care physician has the experience, training, and understanding to provide this type of treatment to facial trauma patients which is why it is important to see an oral or maxillofacial surgeon for treatment.
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons Think of the Long Term Outcome
Facial injuries aren’t like regular injuries to the body where you can quickly treat them and be done. Facial injuries needed to be treated with care because they can create long term functional and cosmetic problems if they are not properly treated. While a regular emergency room doctor or general family doctor may have the basic knowledge and training to treat facial injuries, they don’t have the understanding of how to treat these injuries in the long term. That is why patients need to see an oral or maxillofacial surgeon.
An oral or maxillofacial surgeon has gone through all the traditional training and education as a normal doctor or surgeon, but he or she has taken that training further. An oral or maxillofacial surgeon will have gone through several years of intense training to understand how to properly treat facial injuries. The intense training includes a focus on how to properly diagnosis facial injuries, how to create a treatment plan, how to approach care with compassion and understanding, and how to work to restore a patient’s function and appearance after an injury.
What Type of Facial Injuries can an Oral or Maxillofacial Surgeon Treat?
An oral or maxillofacial surgeon can treat almost any injury that occurs to the facial area. However, they have specific training and experience in treating the following injuries:
- Lacerations to the facial area
- Lacerations in the intraoral area
- Teeth that have been knocked out
- Fractured facial bones such as the eye socket, nose, or cheek
- Fractured upper or lower jaws
Type of Treatment Provided by an Oral or Maxillofacial Surgeon
The type of treatment an oral or maxillofacial surgeon provides depends upon the injury. An oral surgeon has the training and qualifications needed to provide emergency care to hospitals and trauma centers or long-term treatment and management care in an office setting.
Some of the types of treatment that are offered by an oral or maxillofacial surgeon include:
- Wiring a jaw to help stabilize the jaw for treatment of fractured upper or lower jaws
- Suturing for treatment of lacerations
- Rigid fixation for treatment of jaw fractures
- Splinting to help with missing teeth
Before treatment can be administered for facial trauma, an oral or maxillofacial surgeon will assess your case. Some factors that will be considered include your age, previous health, type of injury, severity of the injury, and location of the injury. All of these factors will be closely considered before any type of treatment is administered.
Schedule an Appointment with Dr. Sedaros to Discover Your Options for Facial Trauma Treatment
If you recently experienced an accident or injury that caused facial trauma, schedule an appointment for a consultation with Dr. Sedaros. Dr. Sedaros can provide emergency care, long-term reconstruction, rehabilitation, and acute treatment for all types of facial injuries.
Dr. Sedaros is an experienced oral and maxillofacial surgeon who strives to provide compassionate care to patients who are dealing with facial trauma. He understands the emotional and physical toll patients experience when they are dealing with facial trauma.
During the consultation, Dr. Sedaros will review your diagnosis, conduct a brief exam, and discuss possible treatment options with you. Typically, the consultation is only used to discuss potential treatment options. However, in rare cases procedures may be done on the day of the consultation.
Call our office today to schedule a consultation with Dr. Sedaros.