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Oral and maxillofacial surgery refers to the diagnostics and surgical and other treatment of diseases, injuries and deficiencies of the jaws, face and related tissues. In addition to facial injuries and jaw fractures, HUS also examines and treats e.g. developmental disorders of the mouth and jaw area, diseases of the temporomandibular joint as well as diseases of the oral mucosa. Surgically treated tumours in the head and neck are a central area in the field of oral and maxillofacial diseases.
The HUS district has centralised oral and maxillofacial surgery in HUH Eye and Ear Hospital. Some of the operation is located in Töölö Hospital and the Children’s Hospital.
A significant proportion of the patients suffer from severe systemic diseases, such as cancer patients receiving radiation or cytostatic therapy and patients scheduled for heart surgery or an organ transplant.
Emergency care
Urgent matters that need to be treated in emergency care are e.g. injuries to the dentition, jaws and face as well as severe acute infections in the dentition and jaws. A specialist in oral and maxillofacial surgery is on duty 24 hours a day at the Emergency Department of Töölö Hospital and is responsible for the diagnostics and treatment of facial fractures. Emergency maxillofacial surgery at Töölö Hospital is responsible for night-time (9:00pm–08:00am) emergency care provided for oral diseases in primary health care.
The patient groups requiring the most demanding care and treatment
The patient groups requiring the most demanding care are patients with cancer of the oral and jaw area or other tumours, patients with severe facial injuries, and patients who require different kinds of corrective treatment in the face, jaws and temporomandibular joints.
Surgical treatment for the patient groups requiring the most demanding care is planned with help of computers taking advantage of 3D modelling. Individual, made-to-measure implants can be manufactured for patients. In 2008, HUH Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Diseases carried out the first known procedure in which a bone transplant that had been grown from stem cells extracted from the patient’s own fatty tissue was used to replace a left upper jaw that had been removed due to a widespread tumour.