Oral surgeons do a lot to help Charlotte NC residents

Oral surgeons help Charlotte NC residents from all walks of life every day.  Whether you are 80 years old, 90 years old, or 12 years old, an oral surgeon can help resolve all kinds of problems in your mouth, head, neck, and jaw. Most people think that pretty much all oral surgeons do is pull wisdom teeth and wire jaws together when people find themselves injured in a major accident. But oral surgeons do much more than that.  Oral surgeons, also known as maxillofacial surgeons, perform all manner of surgeries,including sleep apnea procedures, facial bone reconstruction surgeries, and jaw surgery.

Oral surgeons and sleep apnea in Charlotte NC

You may have heard of a friend or relative who suffers from sleep apnea. Well, what you may not know is that if you suffer from this kind of illness, you will likely be referred to an oral surgeon by your primary care physician. For people who suffer from sleep apnea, an oral surgeon can be of enormous value.  Not only can your oral surgeon prescribe treatment plans which do not involve surgery, but in more severe cases, an oral surgeon can perform a wide variety of procedures in order to correct your sleep apnea symptoms completely. While the results of sleep apnea surgery are not guaranteed, your oral surgeon or maxillofacial surgeon can advise you as to the chances of success with regard to any operation that he might perform.

Facial bone surgery for people in major accidents

Oral surgeons help people who have suffered from accidents that caused major bone breaks and fractures in their faces. One common treatment for a broken jaw involves wiring the teeth together so that the jaw is fixed in place, giving it a chance to heal.  Indeed everyone has heard stories about friends who have suffered from this kind of injury and had to spend a month drinking smoothies. However, in more severe cases, facial reconstruction could be necessary and bones may be pinned together, or titanium plating may be used to reconstruct the face.  Also, as a result of an accident, broken or misplaced teeth may be present.  In these cases, an oral surgeon may use a special kind of wiring to brace the teeth back into place, or he or she may use a dental implant to replace a completely missing tooth.

Maxillofacial surgeons and jaw surgery

Everyone has known a teenager with braces, or maybe you yourself have had braces, but sometimes braces are not enough to correct major misalignments in the teeth. That is because some misalignments are caused by defects in the jaw.  Sometimes these jaw defects are so severe that they inhibit normal jaw function, or may cost teeth to be so misaligned that they are highly abnormal in appearance. In such cases, jaw surgery may be necessary in order to correct the defect. This is where a maxillofacial surgeon comes in to perform the procedure. But these procedures are very complex and can take a lot of time. For example, braces will usually need to be worn for up to two years before the jaw surgery is performed. Therefore, an oral surgeon will work in conjunction with your regular dentist and orthodontist to develop a treatment plan to correct the jawbone's alignments.

Who is an excellent oral surgeon in Charlotte, NC?

If your dentist or general doctor has recommended that you visit an oral surgeon in Charlotte NC, you can make an appointment to see Dr. Kevin Bond of Southpark Oral Surgery. He is one of the best oral surgeons in the business. To find out more information about Dr. Kevin Bond and how an oral surgeon can help you, free to visit him right now on the web at www.Southparkoralsurgery.com. 

Oral surgeons in Charlotte NC: What to expect

Oral surgeons are an unknown commodity to most dentistry patients, so when their general dentist recommends an oral surgeon for a specific procedure, it comes as a surprise which brings fears and reservations.  However, there is nothing better at wiping away patient fears than a little bit of education, and that is why the expert staff at Southpark Oral Surgery in Charlotte NC do everything they can to keep patients informed from the moment they walk through the door.  Of course, it always helps to have a little bit of background information before you experience something new as well, so here are a few things about oral surgeons that may interest you.

Maxillofacial surgeon.  What?

An oral surgeon is just as it sounds, a surgeon who specializes in everything that has to do with the oral cavity.  Oral surgeons are also called maxillofacial surgeons. They routinely perform a wide variety of surgical procedures related to the head, jaw, and even the neck.  In that sense, oral surgery is not just about teeth, gums and the jaw but also includes such treatments as sleep apnea procedures and facial trauma surgery.

Sleep apnea procedures by a maxillofacial surgeon

Many oral surgeons perform surgery to help patients who suffer from sleep apnea, a condition that affects your airways and your ability to breathe while sleeping.  In many cases, an oral surgeon or maxillofacial surgeon can do wonders for sleep apnea patients, though treatment will likely begin with non-surgical techniques designed to help avoid surgery altogether.  For example, at Southpark Oral Surgery in Charlotte NC, oral surgeon Dr. Kevin Bond may recommend that patients utilize a CPAP, or continuous positive airway pressure, machine, which assists in keeping a positive airflow to assist breathing in a slumbering patient. 

As far as sleep apnea surgical options go, your maxillofacial surgeon will need to perform a thorough examination and ex-rays before recommending the best of many different kinds of procedures that may help correct the problem.  One type of surgery is called uvulo-palato-pharyngo-plasty (UPPP), which is indeed a mouthful in its own right.  In this procedure, your oral surgeon makes surgical changes to your soft palate at the back of your throat.  This serves to free up your air passages at night so you can sleep better.

Facial trauma surgery

Maxillofacial surgeons also assist patients who have suffered from injuries to the bones of the face and skull, injuries to the teeth, and injuries to the soft tissues of the face sustained in a car accident or some other kind of trauma.  To treat jaw or other facial fractures, an oral surgeon may wire the teeth together, for example.  An oral surgeon can also tend to broken or misplaced teeth, for example, by splinting them or wiring them back into place so that proper healing may take place.  Finally, lacerations and other soft tissue wounds can be sutured and tended different ways by an oral surgeon. 

Visit an oral surgeon right here in Charlotte, NC

Dr. Kevin Bond from Southpark Oral Surgery is a highly trained oral surgeon experienced in diagnosing and treating all manner of oral, facial, head, neck, and jaw conditions.  If you live in Charlotte NC or south Charlotte, you can make an appointment to visit Dr. Kevin Bond and his expert staff right now by visiting Southpark Oral Surgery.