Welcome to the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
Much of the surgical treatment performed in our department involves benign and malignant neoplasms of the facial skin, salivary glands, the oral cavity and craniofacial bone. In the case of malignant pathologies, an interdisciplinary tumor conference involving colleagues from the University Cancer Center Hamburg (UCCH) will decide on patient-focused therapy, taking account of the stage of the disease, accompanying medical conditions and the patient’s own wishes. Useful state-of-the-art aids such as navigation systems and 3D imaging make tumor surgery more effective and ensure maximum patient safety. Where reconstruction becomes necessary, for example in facial depression, or to restore form and function, microsurgical transplants can be used during the same surgical procedure. Radiation and/or chemotherapy can also be given then or some time shortly after the operation as appropriate.
The treatment of facial tissue and facial cranial bone is another key specialty offered by the clinic, which has the latest osteosynthesis systems at its disposal, including 3D-printed titanium plates and grids. This technology allows the success of the surgical intervention to be verified by 3D imaging while the patient is still anesthetized and makes subsequent corrective surgery unlikely.
Similar surgical techniques are also conducted to correct mandibular defects in cooperation with colleagues from the Polyclinic for Orthodontics and other orthodontist specialists.
Our multidisciplinary approach allows us to provide the best possible standard of surgical treatment of children with congenital facial defects (e.g. cleft lip and palate), which is planned and carried out in close consultation and with the support of other colleagues.