Tag: facial injuries

Types of Facial Injuries Your Oral Surgeon Can Help Correct

Oral surgery is more than tooth extractions, implant surgery, and resolving impacted teeth. It also deals with facial trauma potentially affecting your ability to speak, eat, see, or breathe. Restoring these critical functions requires an exceptionally trained oral and maxillofacial surgeon to correct the aftermath of facial trauma. Here are common facial injuries your surgeons at Hill Country Oral Surgery can help rectify.

Jaw Fractures

Sports activities, auto accidents, and falls often lead to fractures in the lower jaw (mandible), the upper jaw (maxilla), or both. In most incidents, loosened, damaged, or knocked-out teeth accompany jaw fractures.

Hill Country Oral Surgery performs facial trauma surgery to stabilize the jaw and restore correct alignment. And since our surgeons specialize in replacing missing teeth and treating injured tooth sites, they are most qualified to address jaw-related injuries.

Cheekbone Fractures

Cheekbone fractures can result from violence, falling, sports injuries, or being in a car accident. Also called zygomatic bone injuries, these fractures might be easy to overlook. Usually, they don’t initially link with functional problems.

However, if not recognized and treated soon after trauma by an experienced oral and maxillofacial surgeon, the facial injury can cause cosmetic and functional problems. With severe cheekbone injuries, oral surgery may be necessary to restore the bone to its original position and shape.

Nasal Fractures

The nose is a prominent facial feature and a frequent site of injury. Blunt-force trauma is usually the culprit. In fact, any solid blow on the face – whether from violence, a fall, an accident, or a sports activity – can result in a broken nose.

Oral surgery is not always the ideal solution for nasal fractures. However, if the nose is visibly crooked or you are having trouble breathing, oral and maxillofacial surgical intervention may be necessary.

Orbital Fractures

Violent blows to the face often fracture the eye socket. Sports activities and auto accidents are common causes.

Most orbital fractures affect the eye socket’s lower portion, where the bone is thinner. As with nasal injuries, oral surgery isn’t always necessary for eye injuries. But if there is eyeball displacement from the natural position or double vision, the patient will likely need surgical treatment.

Hill Country Oral Surgery surgeons have extensive training, certification, and experience at treating all types of facial fractures and injuries. We serve the greater Austin area with a full range of oral and maxillofacial services, including wisdom teeth extractions, dental implants, impacted canines, and pre-prosthetic surgery.

If you would like more information about facial trauma requiring oral surgery, call our Austin office at (512) 327-7233 to request a consultation.

What do Facial Trauma Specialists do?

 

A facial injury can do more than physical damage: it can affect your daily life and bring about emotional trauma. If you’re seeking help for repairing facial trauma, you shouldn’t settle for anything less than a facial trauma specialist. At Hill Country Oral Surgery, our facial trauma experts strive to help patients heal their facial trauma and regain their self-confidence and sense of normalcy.

What Is a Facial Trauma Specialist?

Facial trauma specialists are surgeons who specialize on treating and fixing injuries of the face. Medical professionals like oral and maxillofacial surgeons are considered to be facial trauma specialists. A maxillofacial, or facial, trauma can involve soft tissue injuries like burns, bruises, nasal fractures, fractures of the jaw, and eye injuries. Facial trauma specialists are specifically trained and are uniquely qualified to manage such injuries. These experts don’t just consider how the fractures and physical damages will be treated, but they also use cosmetic skill and artistry to make the results as natural and aesthetically pleasing as possible. Facial trauma specialists typically treat the following injuries:

  • Facial lacerations
  • Intra oral lacerations
  • Avulsed (knocked out) teeth
  • Fractured facial bones (cheek, nose or eye socket)
  • Fractured jaws (upper and lower jaw)

Facial Trauma Specialist Emergency Care Responsibilities

Though facial trauma is unlikely fatal, in several cases it can be deadly. During an emergency care, facial trauma specialists look at many factors to assure the patient’s safety. The most important elements to consider once the patient has been brought to the emergency room is the status of the airways, cervical spine, and blood circulation.

Maxillofacial injuries are usually complicated by a compromised airway. Location of the injury, the severity of the damage, the type of damage, and the patient’s condition (i.e. if he’s intoxicated with drug or alcohol) are several factors that may cause an obstruction in the air passage. Because a blocked airway can be fatal to the patient, the facial trauma specialist secures the patient’s airway condition to guarantee his safety.

The proximity of the cervical spine to the facial injury must be considered in the event of a maxillofacial trauma. From 1%-10% in all facial trauma scenario, the spine is affected, which typically results to more serious damages in health. The facial trauma specialist will assess the patient, depending if he is awake or unconscious, and perform a series of tests to determine if the spine is affected by the injury.

After addressing breathing problems, the facial trauma specialist will look for signs of damage in the circulatory system. The face has a large blood supply, which when damaged can result to a fatal hemorrhage. Bleeding must be controlled if the facial trauma causes excessive blood loss. Facial trauma specialists are well-trained to specifically manage these emergency scenarios.

Facial Trauma Specialist Acute Treatment Responsibilities

Acute treatment for facial trauma is usually done within 72 hours after the incident. This is a crucial stage of treatment. Necessary steps must be performed to prevent muscle atrophy. During the acute treatment, airway and hemorrhage issues are as well addressed. Facial trauma specialists perform necessary treatments to prevent the aggravation of infection, defect in appearance, and other life-threatening risks.

Facial Trauma Specialist Long-Term Reconstruction Responsibilities

Facial trauma reconstruction is also one of the responsibilities of an oral and maxillofacial surgeon. Long-term reconstruction may involve multiple aesthetic surgeries to reduce the damage of the facial injury. After the patient’s health has been addressed, a series of reconstructive surgeries may be recommended depending on the severity of the facial damage.

Facial Trauma Specialist Rehabilitation Responsibilities

Rehabilitation of maxillofacial trauma patients is another responsibility of a facial trauma expert. Damages brought by a facial trauma may cause impairments to facial tissues and muscles. These damages may lead to paralyzed facial movements and the inability to perform normal tasks. Prosthetics may be suggested as part of the rehabilitation. The facial trauma specialist will perform and suggest specific medical therapies to restore motor function like chewing and speech and to help the patient achieve normal oro-facial appearance.

Learn More About What a Facial Trauma Specialist Can Do

Our highly-trained, and well-experienced facial trauma specialists always give their best to every patient who needs medical care after a facial trauma. Aside from their physical treatments, our surgeons also help patients recover their self-confidence and mental strength. Find out more about what our facial trauma specialists can do. Reach out to Hill Country Oral Surgery today!