The face is a sensitive area, and a fall or blunt trauma could cause serious injury. If you sustain facial trauma, you may need emergency services and the help of an oral surgeon to correct misalignments and provide you relief. To help you understand the importance of prompt care in these situations, here’s more information on the different kinds of facial trauma and how surgery can help.

Your Guide to Facial Trauma First Aid

Symptoms

If you sustain a facial trauma, such as a broken nose, you may see bends along your nose bridge, swelling, bruising, and feel pain when breathing. A jaw injury can also result in bruising, numbness, swelling, and pain when trying to speak, and cause tooth trauma and breaks. Cheek and eye socket fractures, other common facial trauma, can flatten or sink the area of the cheeks and eyes, as well as cause bleeding or difficulty seeing.

How to Respond

Since they often cause people to have trouble breathing, lose consciousness, or have other sensory interruptions, facial injuries should be treated as an emergency, so call 911. Doctors may instruct you to keep the area elevated and iced to reduce swelling. If any teeth were knocked out, place them in milk or cold water to preserve them and visit an emergency oral surgeon.

Treatment Options

An oral surgeon can provide reconstruction options to restore the areas that were impacted by force and promote rehabilitation. They may stabilize your jaw or set it in place to help it heal, provide surgery to realign your nose, or use a splint to keep any loose teeth in place. If necessary, they might also use CT scans to identify trauma areas and provide appropriate treatment using a combination of cosmetic and restorative procedures.

If you’ve suffered facial trauma, turn to the professionals at Oral Surgery Associates of Alaska, LLC. Based in Anchorage, AK oral surgeons Dr. William F. Bergeron, Jr. and Dr. Ray Holloway provide cosmetic dental care solutions, oral surgery, jaw surgery, and other services to treat a range of maxillofacial conditions. They take a detailed approach to diagnosis and treatment and are committed to helping their patients achieve the best results. Learn more about the practice online, visit Facebook for news and updates, or call (907) 561-1430 to schedule a consultation.