CHAPTER 1
What Is Oral And Maxillofacial Surgery?
“Medicines cure diseases, but only
doctors can cure patients.”
—CARL JUNG
When I was a second-year dental student at Columbia University many moons ago, there was a fair about all dental specialties. Each specialty set a table with pamphlets, brochures, and instruments to showcase what a specialist’s future might hold. I distinctly remembered hearing roaring noises from the corner table. I turned my head and saw a group of big guys hovering over a station that displayed, “oral and maxillofacial surgery.” I wiggled my way in only to see a spread of extraction instruments and I was quickly body-blocked. My first organic reaction was that I didn’t feel I belonged because that was the only table full of men.
However, during the last two years of dental school, my clinical rotation in oral and maxillofacial surgery sparkled something within me. One of the first surgical procedures I saw in the VA clinic was a repair of an oroantral communication, a hole between the mouth and the sinus, as a result of an upper molar extraction. I learned upper molar roots could extend into the maxillary sinus, and dental extraction could potentially cause perforation of the sinus membrane, a thin lining between the mouth and the sinus. Perforation would lead to an opening between the mouth and the sinus. This patient complained that every time he drank coffee, it came out from his nose. During my one month rotation, I witnessed the surgeon close the hole in the maxillary sinus with the aid of a small piece of gold foil, which later led to healing and closing of the area. I was fascinated by the execution of the technique and how the human body responded to a simple elegant maneuver. I was inspired by the magical gold foil. For the last two years of dental school, I explored further into the specialty of oral and maxillofacial surgery, because I was determined to learn more techniques like that to help people resume day-to-day functions most of us take for granted—such as drinking coffee and not having it come out our nose.
What is oral and maxillofacial surgery? The word “maxillofacial” is often confusing and not well understood. Currently, oral and maxillofacial surgery is one of twelve dental specialties recognized by the National
