Why Choose an Oral Surgeon to Complete Your Surgery?
Training
Oral Surgeons complete a grueling 4-6 year residency after 4 years of Dental School. Residents must be at the top of their dental class to be accepted for residency. Each program typically accepts only 1-3 students out of hundreds of applicants. During residency, oral surgeons spend 6 months on anesthesia, treating hundreds of patients during hospital surgery. There are other equally demanding rotations on cardiology, internal medicine, pediatric surgery, general surgery, neurosurgery, otolaryngology (Head and Neck Surgery), plastic surgery, internal medicine, and ICU patient management. The hours spent allows oral & maxillofacial surgeons to be the only dental specialists to be accepted into the American College of Surgery.
Anesthesia
As mentioned, anesthesia training is a very serious component of Oral & Maxillofacial training. Oral Surgeons are the only other specialists able to obtain a Deep Anesthesia Permit in Illinois except for anesthesiologists and dental anesthesiologists. There is advanced airway training including tracheostomy and tube placement, cricothyrotomy tube placement (emergency airway placement), needle cricothyrotomy for jet insufflation, standard intubation, Laryngeal mask placement, submental airway placement, training in basic life support, advanced cardiovascular life support, pediatric advanced cardiovascular life support, and advanced life support. We encourage you to ask about anesthesia training background for other procedures not completed by a board-certified oral surgeon, anesthesiologist, or dental anesthesiologist. Weekend courses do not replace hands-on residency training!
Scope of Procedures
The full scope of oral surgery, from training, to board certification, to general practice, incorporates more areas of expertise than is limited to other specialties. This includes dental implants and tissue grafting, bone grafting, dentoalveolar (tooth-related surgery), facial and neck infection management, temporomandibular joint disorders, orthognathic or jaw movement surgery, head/orbital/midfacial/jaw trauma, tumors and pathology, reconstruction of jaw defects, medical assessment, anesthesia, office-based emergency management, pediatric medical assessment, facial plastics, (esthetics), obstructive sleep apnea, medication-related osteonecrosis (MRONJ), cleft lip/palate. These areas are critical components of residency and all board-certified oral surgeons are tested in the evaluation, diagnosis, surgical treatment, and complication management of all mentioned topics.