Oral and maxillofacial surgery contains fixing soft tissue and teeth-related pathologies such as cysts, tumors (apical resection), treatment of teeth and jaw fractures, removal or maintenance of the teeth embedded in the jaw bone and if necessary to help make prosthesis in the correction of hard and soft tissues. Maxillofacial pains, jaw joint diseases, salivary gland disorders are also the subjects of this field. Detection and treatment of symptoms of some systemic diseases in the mouth are also solved under this area.
Advanced surgical techniques such as implantation of the implant to the jaw bone, implantation of bone grafts in the absence of sufficient bone for the implant and membrane applications are also within the scope of surgery.
Another subject of jaw surgery is congenital or subsequent jaw-face anomalies. Among these anomalies are the cases in which chewing function and aesthetics are impaired due to the common palate-lip cleft and the position of the lower or upper jaw in front or behind.
The diagnosis of jaw surgery is supported by tomography as well as apical and panoramic x-ray films. In this way, the definitive diagnosis can be made before the operation and the treatment plan can be made fully. To be successful during diagnosis and treatment, multidisciplinary studies without specialties of dentistry such as orthodontics and prostheses may be required.
Surgical procedures related to oral and maxillofacial diseases are performed under local anesthesia (regional numbing). Prior performing surgical procedures, patients’ current systemic diseases and their concerns about treatment should be taken into consideration first and treatment plan should be determined according to these criteria.