Introduction

Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery is the specialty of Dentistry which deals with the surgical and adjunctive treatment of diseases, injuries, and malformations of the jaws and face. The term "Maxillofacial" refers to the upper jaw and facial structures. Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery is a unique specialty in that it functions in the realm of both Medicine and Dentistry. An Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon is a surgical specialist who following completion of four years of college and four years of Dental School, completes an additional 4-6 years of intensive medical and surgical training. In addition to comprehensive training in all aspects of our particular surgical discipline, this training also includes rotations in Anesthesiology, Internal Medicine, Emergency Medicine, General Surgery, Trauma Surgery, Cardiology, and Neurosurgery, and may include additional rotations in such areas as Pulmonary Medicine, Pediatrics, Otolaryngology, and Plastic Surgery. Our Anesthesiology training is extensive, and provides our specialty with unique qualifications so that we may safely administer sedatives and anesthetics to our patients during office surgical procedures.

Most of our activity in the hospital setting relates to the care of trauma patients (such as facial lacerations, repair of facial fractures, etc.), but we often see hospital inpatients for other problems such as major facial infections, and oral pathological conditions. Most of our elective facial reconstruction or major bone graft surgery is also performed in a hospital setting.

We do however, spend most of our time treating patients in the office for such things as routine dental extractions, wisdom tooth extractions, implants, biopsies, etc.

For most simple procedures, such as routine extractions or biopsies can ordinarily be performed on the same day as the consultation.  A complex medical history or treatment plan will require an initial appointment for evaluation followed by a second appointment to provide treatment on another day.