Oral Surgery and Correcting Your Jaw

Corrective jaw oral surgery is a common procedure used to address problems or irregularities with the jaw or teeth. Performed by an oral surgeon, it can be an effective way to improve both your health and your appearance. Not all dentists perform the procedure, so if you have any of the symptoms below, we encourage you to schedule an exam and consultation with our dental office in Columbia.

Corrective jaw surgery is often performed when these signs are present:

• Difficulty chewing
• Facial imbalance
• Injury to the face or jaw
• An open or severely misaligned jaw
• Soreness or pain in the jaw, face, or neck
• Unnatural wear on the teeth
• Birth defects
• Sleep apnea
• Chronic mouth breathing

If any of these issues are present in one's life, then that individual may need oral surgery to correct them. We use modern solutions and advanced dental technology to promote minimally invasive procedures. If a patient needs minimally invasive or surgical procedures, then we will let the patient know. Our goal is to provide the solution the patient needs, in the least invasive manner possible.

Working With Your Dentist

As an oral surgeon, many of our patients come to us from other local dentists or orthodontists. While they do a wonderful job keeping teeth healthy or straightening them, they are typically not an expert in surgery where we are. Visiting our office for a surgical procedure does not mean that the patient will no longer see his or her favorite dentist. They will continue to spearhead the patient's overall treatment, while we will focus on this narrow aspect of it.

The same is true when working with local orthodontist offices. They continue to straighten teeth using braces or aligners, but patients come to us at some point during the total treatment to have surgery complete. We take the team approach because that is what will give the patient the best possible results.

Recovering From Oral Surgery

Jaw surgery is a surgery just like any other. There will be a set recovery period where the patient will need to be careful with eating. The patient needs to give time to heal by taking a few days off work or planning the surgery around a holiday or preset vacation. The patient will want to take it easy physically, eat soft foods, and not yell or aggressively move the jaw.

We will keep an eye on the patient during recovery period by having the patient come in for checkups. Slowly, the patient will be able to eat everything again and benefit from improved health and appearance. If the patient is working with an orthodontist, once the jaw surgery is complete, they are likely to want to put the braces back on so they can continue forward with the patient's treatment plan.

To find out if you are a candidate for oral surgery or to learn more about the process, call our office at (410) 635-5105 and schedule a consultation.