Oral-Maxillofacial Surgery and Pathology

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Cleft and Craniofacial Services

The Oral-Maxillofacial Surgery and Pathology department plays an integral part in the Cleft and Craniofacial team based in the Eli Manning Clinic at Children's of Mississippi Hospital. The multidisciplinary team includes oral surgeons, plastic surgeons, pediatricians, pediatric dentists, orthodontists, nurses, speech therapists, nutritionists, social workers, audiologists and psychologists. The goal is to optimize collaborative, interdisciplinary care for persons affected by clefts and other craniofacial disorders.

Oral and maxillofacial surgery bridges the disciplines of dentistry and medicine to provide for surgical needs of craniofacial deformities. As a surgical specialty, we address surgical repair of cleft lip, cleft palate and alveolar cleft defects. The comprehensive care and effective management of these patients require reconstruction of oral and facial structures. Particularly in cleft patients, the lip is corrected first, then followed by palatal repair. This helps facilitate feeding, speech and enhance aesthetics during the first 18 months of life.

Many of these patients require subsequent staged surgeries through early adulthood. Secondary surgeries are performed based on growth, development and functional needs. Stunted facial growth in cleft and craniofacial patients is diagnosed, evaluated and treated with corrective jaw (orthognathic) surgery. Discrepancies between the midface and the lower jaw are also treated with distraction of the upper and/or the lower facial bones. Both functional and cosmetic needs are addressed to yield optimal, yet pragmatic results.

Moreover, we also work closely with pediatric dentists, orthodontists and prosthetic dentists to rehabilitate the oral cavity. Maxillofacial surgeons also perform extraction of teeth, placement of dental implants and removal of pathology associated with the face, cranium and jaw structures. The dental and surgical skills of UMMC's oral and maxillofacial surgeons place us in a unique position to provide surgical reconstructive, dental restorative and aesthetic facial treatment to help balance the harmony of the craniomaxillofacial structures.