19 Dec How to Tell If Your Facial Trauma Warrants Dental Correction
Facial trauma includes any damage to your face’s soft or hard tissue. In addition to being painful, trauma to your face can cause emotional distress, especially if it has altered the normal appearance of your face.
At COOMSA, we understand that facial trauma can affect your smile and quality of life. Therefore, we are determined to help you restore the form and function of your facial structure. If you’ve recently experienced facial-related trauma, here is how to know if it warrants dental correction and a visit to the oral surgeon.
Identifying Facial-Related Trauma
A number of types of accidents and injuries can cause trauma to your face. You might experience a fall, car accident, accident at work or home, an injury while playing sports, or physical violence.
We put facial-related trauma into three major categories: bone injuries, dental injuries, and soft tissue injuries. Bone injuries include fractures to the bones in your jaw or near your mouth, while dental injuries include damaged, loose, or missing teeth. If you have a soft tissue injury, you might also have cuts to your cheek, gums, or tongue.
In addition to these types of injuries, you will probably also experience bleeding, swelling, and pain. Any of these injuries warrant dental correction.
Initial Treatment
If you sustain trauma to your face that includes a suspected fracture or extensive bleeding, you should immediately seek emergency care. In the emergency room, medical staff will focus on stabilizing the injury to reduce complications with your overall health.
For injuries that do not require emergency care, contact our office soon so you can be seen by an oral surgeon.
Restoration Options
Once you have been stabilized, our team of oral surgeons can help restore bone, dental, and soft tissue damage. Our focus is to ensure you can continue to speak, chew, and swallow properly while addressing aesthetic concerns.
Your restoration options might include corrective jaw surgery, bone grafting, and/or soft tissue grafting and reconstruction. To address dental injuries, your oral surgeon can offer tooth replacements such as dental implants if your natural tooth is unsavable.
Seek Facial Trauma Treatment at COOMSA
If you believe that you have facial-related trauma that requires dental treatment, don’t hesitate to contact us to schedule an appointment. Your chance of successful recovery is much higher if we can address any injuries as soon as possible. Learn more about the important things you should know about facial trauma with COOMSA.