What You Need to Know About Facial Trauma Treatment
Several situations can lead to facial and head trauma. A few common examples are car accidents, sports injuries, and falls. There are several types of injuries that can lead to facial trauma, including
- Damage to the bones of the head and face – Fractures are most common in the nose and mandible, but you can suffer a fracture to any bone of your face or head. Soft tissue injuries are also possible. In order to get a proper diagnosis, CT scanning is required since it detects fractures of the face bones more consistently than standard X-rays and also identifies soft tissue injuries.
- Damage to the facial nerve or the trigeminal nerve may develop because of face and head trauma.
- Damage to the eye because of direct contact
- A proportion of patients who experience facial trauma also suffer from brain damage, and some of these patients have co-existing cervical spine injury, which should be taken into consideration.
Surgeons are responsible for the initial treatment of substantial face trauma: they will wire or plate the shattered bone, stitch any lacerations to the skin or soft tissue, and graft any soft tissue that suffered severe damage.
As a result, the majority of the physiotherapy rehabilitation for these patients is post-operative rehabilitation.
Injuries & Treatments
Injury to the Soft Tissue
Seeing a doctor as soon as possible after suffering a face injury is recommended. Some face fractures may be life threatening, so seek medical attention immediately. The actions of others may inflict permanent damage to your respiratory system, airway passageways, central nervous system, or eyesight that cannot be restored.
Injury to the Bone
When a bony injury occurs, surgical treatment is often necessary. This may include the use of wires or plating, as well as more extensive surgical methods to restore the injured bone, such as bone grafting.
Phase of Proliferation
The body continues to mend after the surgical repair processes have been finished, resulting in the formation of scar tissues. Approximately 2-3 weeks pass between the formation of scar tissue and the formation of collagen; during this period, there is a slowdown of scar tissue growth that lasts for the next 4-6 months. Collagen is the primary component of scar tissue, and it is laid down during this phase.
Thereafter, there comes the remodeling (also known as maturation) phase, during which the scar tissue continues to rebuild and remodel, becoming more organized and functional, and becoming more comparable to the tissue it is attempting to restore. This procedure might take up to a year to complete.
Rehabilitation
When the surgeons give the go-ahead, the rehabilitation process should begin immediately.
Manual treatments applied to the soft tissues are widely used with the goal of returning the flexibility of the soft tissues to the patient. Given the nature of scar tissue, it has a propensity to lose both elasticity and length throughout the healing process, which may result in a restricted range of motion.
Once the length of the tissue has been determined, the patient should be urged to move the afflicted part of the face actively via the newly achieved range of motion. These exercises are referred to as Active Exercises.
Overall, in some cases surgery is the most appropriate approach to help you heal efficiently after experiencing facial trauma. In these events, an expert oral surgeon should always be consulted.
Conclusion
Being in practice for a couple of years now, we provide the most convenient dental and facial services. If you have any questions or concerns about facial trauma treatment, set an appointment with Dr. Davis, DMD at Shawn B. Davis, DMD, Oral & Facial Surgery Institute today or call us at (435) 628-1100.