Treatment of broken jaws, cheekbones and eye sockets, facial cuts and dental injuries by surgeons who also cover local hospital emergency departments.
Facial injuries happen in car accidents, falls, sports, cycling and surfing, at work and sometimes in assaults. They range from a chipped or knocked-out tooth to fractures of the jaw, cheekbone or eye socket. Oral and maxillofacial surgeons are trained in both dentistry and facial surgery, which matters here: repairing a facial fracture well means restoring the bite and the function of the face, not only the appearance.
When to go to a hospital
If someone has a head injury with confusion, vomiting or loss of consciousness, difficulty breathing, heavy bleeding, or a possible neck injury, call 911 or go directly to an emergency department. Many Molly surgeons provide on-call care at local hospitals and may see you there. Once you are stable, follow-up and planned repairs can continue in the office or as a scheduled hospital procedure.
What we treat
- Jaw fractures, of the lower jaw (mandible) or upper jaw (maxilla), often noticed as a bite that suddenly feels wrong, pain on chewing or numbness of the lip.
- Cheekbone and eye socket fractures, which can cause flattening of the cheek, numbness, or double vision. These are treated with the eye team when vision is involved.
- Nasal and other facial fractures, in coordination with other specialists where appropriate.
- Soft tissue injuries, such as cuts to the lips, cheeks, tongue and face, repaired with careful attention to function and scarring.
- Dental injuries: knocked-out, displaced, broken or loose teeth, and fractures of the bone that holds them.
Diagnosis and repair
Your surgeon examines your face, bite, sensation and eye movements and takes a 3D cone-beam CT (CBCT) scan, or reviews hospital CT images, to see each fracture clearly. Some fractures heal well with a soft diet and close monitoring. Others need repair: the bones are realigned and held with small titanium plates and screws, usually through incisions inside the mouth or hidden in natural skin creases. Restoring your bite exactly is part of the plan, and sometimes the teeth are held together briefly with wires or elastics while the bone heals.
More complex repairs are done in a hospital under general anesthesia. Simpler procedures, including many dental injuries and small fractures, can be treated in the office under local anesthetic or IV sedation.
Most jaw fractures heal over about six weeks. Your surgeon follows you closely, coordinates with your dentist for any teeth that need restoring, and can plan implants later for teeth that were lost. Trauma care is billed to medical insurance, and when another party may be responsible, we help with the paperwork.
