41^st Asia Pacific Dental and Oral Care Congress

Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and Innovations

Oral and maxillofacial surgery includes diagnosis, surgery and treatment of defects, injuries and diseases mainly in the oral hard and soft tissues, head, neck, face and maxillofacial region i.e. jaws and face. Functions of an oral and maxillofacial surgeon may include dental replacements, jaw, oral and facial tumor diagnosis and removal, jaw and facial bone alignment, jaw reconstruction, etc. In the mid-1980s, CO₂ Laser was first introduced that gained immense popularity in the field of periodontology mainly because of ease of simultaneous photo-thermal ablation and coagulation. Recent innovations in oral and maxillofacial surgery include trans-oral robotic surgery and titanium miniplates in the field of guided maxillofacial surgery.

Types:

Pulpotomy: Removal of a portion of the pulp along with the infected part in order to maintain the vitality of the remaining pulpal tissue.

Pulpectomy: Complete removal of pulp material from the pulp chamber and root canal.

Apicoectomy: Surgical procedure in which removal of tooth’s root tip, preparation of root end cavity and filling of biocompatibility material in it is performed when there is a failure in conventional root canal therapy.

Crowns or Caps: A covering (Crown/Cap) which is used to improve the appearance of tooth and to restore its strength, size and shape.

Veneers: Wafer-thin tooth colored artificial shells designed to cover the front surface of the teeth in order to provide a perfect appearance.

Bridges: A bridge consisting of a pontic along with abutment teeth on both the sides to fill the gap created by one or more missing teeth.

Dentures: Replacement of missing teeth by removable appliances.

Implants and implant-supported prosthesis: Dentures supported by implants on jaw bone in the complete absence of teeth.

Extraction: Removal of damaged or decayed tooth from its bone socket.

Fiberotomy: Surgical procedure designed to detach the fibres present around the tooth in order to reduce the tendency to relapse of tooth rotations corrected by dental treatments.

Periodontics: Dental specialty which focuses on the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of diseases effecting gums and other supporting structures around the teeth.

Cosmetic Dental Surgery: Dental work performed majorly focusing on improvement of position, color, size and alignment to enhance the overall smile appearance.