Oral surgeons treat diseases, injuries, and structural problems of the jaws, face, mouth, and neck. Their official title is “oral and maxillofacial surgeon,” and their scope extends well beyond pulling teeth. These specialists handle everything from impacted wisdom teeth to complex facial reconstruction, jaw realignment, tumor removal, and joint disorders. Here’s a closer look at the specific conditions they manage.
Impacted Wisdom Teeth
Wisdom tooth removal is the most common reason people end up in an oral surgeon’s chair. These third molars become impacted when there isn’t enough space for them to erupt normally, or when they grow at an abnormal angle. They can be blocked by bone, trapped under gum tissue, or wedged against the neighboring tooth.
When a wisdom tooth is partially erupted, bacteria and food collect under the flap of gum tissue covering it. This leads to a painful infection called pericoronitis, which causes swelling, a bad taste in the mouth, and sometimes difficulty opening the jaw. Left untreated, it can progress to an abscess with fever and facial swelling. Partially erupted wisdom teeth can also cause cavities in the adjacent molar because the tight space between the two teeth is impossible to keep clean. In some cases, impacted wisdom teeth damage the surrounding bone or develop cysts. Removal of symptomatic or diseased wisdom teeth relieves pain and protects the health of neighboring teeth.
Dental Implants and Bone Grafting
When you’re missing one or more teeth, oral surgeons place dental implants: small titanium posts that are surgically anchored into the jawbone to serve as artificial tooth roots. A crown, bridge, or denture is then attached on top. In many cases, tooth loss has already led to bone shrinkage in the jaw, so the surgeon first performs a bone graft to rebuild enough bone to support the implant. This can involve transplanting bone from another part of your body or using synthetic materials.
Corrective Jaw Surgery
Orthognathic surgery repositions the upper jaw, lower jaw, or both to correct skeletal problems that braces alone can’t fix. People who need this surgery often have a significant overbite, underbite, open bite (where the front teeth don’t meet when the mouth is closed), or facial asymmetry where the chin deviates noticeably from the midline. These aren’t just cosmetic issues. Misaligned jaws can make chewing difficult, cause chronic jaw pain, and contribute to obstructive sleep apnea.
For sleep apnea specifically, a procedure called maxillomandibular advancement moves both jaws forward to widen the airway. A meta-analysis of 31 studies covering nearly 1,600 patients found this surgery reduced breathing interruptions during sleep by an average of about 42 events per hour, with most side effects being temporary. It has the highest success rate among surgical treatments for obstructive sleep apnea.
Facial Trauma and Fractures
Oral surgeons repair broken facial bones, including fractures of the lower jaw (mandible), upper jaw (maxilla), cheekbones, eye sockets, and nasal bones. These injuries commonly result from car accidents, sports injuries, falls, and assaults. Facial fractures are more complex than broken arms or legs because the muscles of the face pull fragments out of alignment, and even a small misalignment can throw off your bite or change the shape of your face.
Jaw fractures in particular require precise repositioning so the upper and lower teeth fit together correctly afterward. If the bite is off even slightly, it creates long-term problems with chewing and jaw joint function. Orbital floor fractures, the thin bone beneath the eye, can trap the muscles that control eye movement and cause double vision, requiring prompt surgical repair. Cheekbone fractures need stable fixation to restore the natural contour of the face.
Cysts, Tumors, and Oral Pathology
Oral surgeons diagnose and remove abnormal growths in the jaws and soft tissues of the mouth. Jaw cysts are fluid-filled sacs that develop around impacted teeth, within the bone, or from other tissue. Some are slow-growing and discovered by chance on a dental X-ray. Others are aggressive. The keratocystic odontogenic tumor, for example, is the most common aggressive cystic lesion of the jaw. Rather than expanding the bone outward, it tends to quietly erode through the inner surface of the jawbone.
Ameloblastomas are another category: benign but locally destructive tumors that can require removal of a section of the jaw depending on how deeply they’ve invaded the bone. In rare cases, cancers arise within jaw cysts, and these need to be treated with surgical resection of the affected bone. Oral surgeons also biopsy suspicious patches or lumps in the mouth, tongue, and throat to check for oral cancer.
TMJ Disorders
The temporomandibular joint (TMJ) connects your lower jaw to your skull on each side. When this joint is damaged or dysfunctional, it can cause chronic pain, clicking, locking, and difficulty opening your mouth. Most TMJ problems respond to conservative treatment like splints, physical therapy, and anti-inflammatory medication. Oral surgeons step in when those approaches fail.
Surgery is considered necessary in specific situations: when the joint has fused (ankylosis), when there’s a tumor such as a growth on the jaw condyle, when the jaw dislocates repeatedly, or when there’s radiologically confirmed degenerative joint disease causing intolerable pain and dysfunction. Procedures range from minimally invasive joint flushing, where fluid is used to wash out inflammatory debris, to arthroscopic surgery or open joint repair depending on the severity of the damage.
Cleft Lip and Palate Repair
Children born with a cleft lip, cleft palate, or both typically need a series of surgeries spanning from infancy through the late teens. Oral and maxillofacial surgeons are central to this care. The lip is usually repaired between 3 and 6 months of age, restoring the continuity of the lip muscle that guides mouth growth. The palate is reconstructed between 9 and 15 months, which is critical for developing normal speech and stopping liquid from flowing back through the nose during feeding.
Around ages 6 to 10, children with a cleft in the tooth-bearing bone of the upper jaw receive a bone graft, typically using bone from the hip, to support the adult teeth as they come in. Some children need a secondary surgery on the tissue around the throat to improve speech quality. Nasal correction for the characteristic cleft nasal deformity can begin with minor adjustments around age 5, but definitive nose surgery waits until the facial skeleton has finished growing, usually between 15 and 18. Jaw surgery to reposition the underdeveloped upper jaw is also performed in the mid-to-late teens when needed.
Training Behind the Specialty
Oral and maxillofacial surgeons complete at least 8 years of specialized training beyond a bachelor’s degree: 4 years of dental school followed by a minimum of 4 years of hospital-based surgical residency. During residency, they train alongside medical residents in anesthesia, general surgery, internal medicine, and emergency medicine. Some choose to also earn a medical degree, extending their training further, though this isn’t required to practice. Their residency includes extensive experience with general anesthesia and IV sedation, which is why they’re often the providers who sedate patients for complex dental procedures or wisdom tooth extractions.