When making a diagnosis, your doctor will begin by asking about your medical history, including any events that may have caused your facial injury.

A thorough physical and medical examination will also be conducted, to note any injuries to your face and other parts of your body. This may be followed by relevant X-rays and CT scan of the head and face. Specific X-rays are needed depending on exact nature and site of injuries.

Many people with facial injuries also suffer from additional injuries. In such cases additional x-rays, investigations and consultations with other medical specialists may be needed.

1. Dental Craft is equipped with Cone Beam CT SCAN, OPG/Panorama Xrays and RVGs to assess the  jaw and facial bone fractures.

Depending on these factors, a decision may be made to treat the injury surgically or non-surgically. 

• Non-surgical treatment mostly consists of stabilizing the jaw bones by using wires and certain other equipment and supported with analgesics and antibiotics. This is usually done when
  • The injuries are minor
  • Patient is medically unfit for surgery
  • General anesthesia cannot be given
• Surgical treatment involves surgical exposure of the fracture sites, which are then aligned and fixed with titanium miniplates & screws, lag screws etc.
  • Most common approach for fixing jaw fractures is from inside the mouth, thus avoiding any risk of scarring.
  • Some facial fractures though may need incisions on the face, but are placed in certain areas and skin creases, so that they are not prominent after healing.
  • This requires general anesthesia in most cases followed by stabilization of both the jaws together for a few weeks.

What happens after surgery?

• If you had a general anesthetic you will need to stay in the hospital for a couple of days in case you experience problems and need help.
• You will be given instructions about looking after the surgical site when you go home and suitable pain medication and appropriate antibiotics or mouthwashes to take home.
• Stitches are usually removed 10-14 days after the surgery.

Recovery from the Surgery

• After the operation you will have some swelling and bruising. This will rapidly begin to subside over the first 1-2weeks.
• It takes 6-8 weeks for the complete healing of the jaw bone fractures, but you can resume to your routine work after 2 weeks of surgery.
• For operations on the lower jaw it is fairly common to have some numbness of the lower lip for some weeks or months afterwards. In a very small number of cases a residual area of numbness will remain.