Medical Aspects
Our London clinic is well equipped for oral evaluation, in terms of imaging, microscopy and examination facilities. The specialists we work with on blood testing, allergen, or tissue analysis provide a state of the art service.
The task of our consultants still begins with understanding you. Getting to know your medical history, how you feel about the condition you have and how this is affecting the way you live.
An approach which also helps bring out subtle symptoms that could be missed. Supporting the clinical information and expertise of your consultant, to take diagnosis forward to solutions.
Dental Aspects
The nature of our bodies makes divorcing our mouth and teeth from the rest of us impractical. They are integral parts and have a broad impact, part of the reason the maxillofacial profession exists.
A further reason is an ability to contribute towards, or carry out complex dental work. This may be the removal of impacted teeth, buried roots, aspects of facial reconstruction, or adding to orthodontic treatment.
Dental implants can be part of the equation, other prosthetics, bone grafting, or remodelling. If a surgeon is rebuilding a damaged jaw, the ability to restore dental function is essential.
Surgical Skills
Uncommon skills can be required, such as microvascular techniques to transfer tissue, or bone from another part of the body. Trauma can bring unique demands, with delicate fractures, or soft tissue damage.
There are still specific conditions maxillofacial surgeons are renowned for treating:
- Jaw disorders, correcting deformity, misalignment, or issues with the joints.
- The removal of benign, or malignant (cancerous) tumours, cysts and lesions.
- Salivary gland surgery, along with the removal of stones from related ducts.
- Correction of cleft lip and palate, or other congenital, facial deformities.
- Reconstructive surgery, following other treatment, or traumatic damage.
Every case is unique and treatment can take place for differing reasons. Jaw surgery may be to correct facial disproportion, or relieve facial pain, skin tumours may be cancerous, or psychologically damaging to the patient.
Whilst maxillofacial surgery is not as such a cosmetic field, preserving, or improving the way a patient looks is a vital consideration.
Ongoing Development
Continually moving medicine forward is a core aspect of a maxillofacial consultant’s life. They often act as mentors within the medical profession, offer scientific papers, or lecture across the globe.
Skills to benefit patients are shared with less privileged countries to develop services, or within the UK, to meet everyday and unusual situations.
As editor of the British Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, our lead consultant has worked on improvements in e-learning. We take an interest in NHS studies of maxillofacial care and offer input where we are able to.
Part of seeing developments move in a useful direction, including surgical procedures. Facial surgery can be brief day care under local anaesthetic, or general anaesthetic in a larger hospital.
Managing the needs of either stems from the confidence and knowledge many years of experience bring. There are no shortcuts to a maxillofacial consultant’s career, because for our patients, there shouldn’t be.
