Minimally Invasive Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery

Although oral and maxillofacial surgeons are best known for extracting wisdom teeth, they do much more, including reconstructing faces shattered by trauma, surgically correcting misaligned jaws, and performing cancer surgery on the face and neck. Oral and maxillofacial surgeons diagnose and treat, usually through surgery, disease, injuries, and defects related to the hard and soft tissues of the mouth, teeth, and face. Some oral and maxillofacial procedures restore normal function, some improve appearance, and some do both.

Minimally invasive oral and maxillofacial surgery is done using no anesthesia, local anesthesia, or general anesthesia, depending on the procedure. Patients go home the same day.

Wisdom Teeth Extraction
When wisdom teeth don’t emerge or fully break through the gum tissue, they become impacted, often causing swelling, pain, and infection. Impacted wisdom teeth can also cause permanent damage to adjacent teeth, gums and supporting bone and can lead to the development of cysts and tumors that can destroy part of the jaw. Extraction of wisdom teeth is an outpatient procedure.

Dental Implants
Dental implants, tooth root substitutes, are used to replace missing teeth. They look, feel, and work like real teeth. Implants are surgically placed in the jawbone and act as anchors for artificial teeth. Implants can replace one, some, or all missing teeth. Cooper surgeons offer many kinds of dental implants, including special procedures for people who don’t have enough bone in their jaws to anchor the implants.

Surgery for Facial Trauma
As part of South Jersey’s only Level 1 Trauma Center, Cooper surgeons have extensive experience in handling complex facial injuries, including skin lacerations (cuts), setting fractured jaw and facial bones, reconnecting severed nerves and ducts, and treating other injuries. These procedures include care of oral tissues, the jaws, cheek and nasal bones, the forehead, and eye sockets. Cooper surgeons strive to restore cosmetic appearance and use minimally invasive techniques when possible.

Surgery for Pathological Conditions
Pathological conditions include non-cancerous and cancerous cysts and tumors in the mouth and facial region, as well as severe infections of the oral cavity, salivary glands, jaws, and neck. Cooper surgeons treat these conditions, including, in some cases, through minimally invasive surgery.

Surgery for Sleep Apnea
Snoring and obstructive sleep apnea (a breathing disorder characterized by brief interruptions of breathing during sleep and caused by a blockage of the airway) can cause serious health problems. When other treatments have failed, Cooper surgeons can perform minimally invasive surgery to correct the problem.

Surgery for Facial Pain
Problems with the temporomandibular joint (a small joint located in front of the ear where the skull and lower jaw meet) often cause facial pain. Causes of these problems include arthritis and stress. Cooper surgeons use minimally invasive arthroscopic surgery to resolve some temporomandibular joint problems. In the most severe cases, more complex joint surgery is necessary.

Orofacial Deformities
Some people have oral deformities such as misaligned jaws, or cleft lip or cleft palate (birth defects in which the tissues of the mouth or lip don't form properly during fetal development and there is a separation, or cleft). Cooper surgeons use minimally invasive and traditional surgery to restore the jaw and facial structures to normal function and appearance. These procedures are done under general anesthesia.

Reconstructive and Cosmetic Surgery
Reconstructive and cosmetic surgery is used to repair physical malformations due to disease, injury, burns, birth defects, or aging. These procedures may involve the soft tissue and/or bones of the face and often include moving skin, bone, nerves, and other tissues from other parts of the body to reconstruct the jaws and face.

Doctors Who Perform These Minimally Invasive Procedures

• Manolis G. Manolakakis, D.M.D.
• Joseph P. Mulligan, D.M.D.
• Brian M. Smith, D.M.D.