|
Few might think of visiting the dentist in search of the fountain
of youth, but new Botox(tm) treatments to erase the frown and
smoker's lines and "crow's feet" are among a number of cosmetic
surgeries that oral and maxillofacial surgeons at CWRU's Oral
Surgery and Maxillofacial Clinic can perform.
With Food and Drug Administration approval this spring of using
Clostridium botulinum for elective cosmetic purposes, it becomes
one of the newest services the clinic provides in its community
clinic at 2123 Emergency Drive on the CWRU campus.
According to Faisel A. Quereshy, M.D., D.D.S., CWRU assistant
professor and resident directory, CWRU's oral and maxillofacial
surgeons have the skills to provide a range of medical procedures
that involve the face, neck and jaw. These can range from correcting
impacted wisdom and eye teeth, to complicated surgeries to reconstruct
facial bones broken in a car accident and to elective cosmetic
procedures such as lifting eyebrows or eyelids or correcting congenital
birth defects like missing ears or redefinition of the nose.
Michael Powers, chair of CWRU's oral and maxillofacial surgery
department, heads the clinic with its 43 full time and clinical
professors, trained with dual degrees in dentistry and medicine
and with up to 10 years of additional education beyond their bachelor's
degrees.
In addition to dental school, the oral and maxillofacial surgeon
has training in general medicine, surgery and anesthesiology which
enables the surgeons to perform many procedures in a clinical
setting, explains Quereshy, who is also a CWRU dental school alum.
For the more complicated procedures, CWRU's Oral and Maxillofacial
Surgery Clinic works with University Hospitals of Cleveland and
is also on call for their emergency room consultations involving
jaw, neck or facial problems. The CWRU oral and maxillofacial
surgeons also help pediatric patients with cleft lip and palate
deformities at the Craniofacial Center at Rainbow Babies' and
Children's Hospital closing cleft defects involving the lip, palate
and jaw bone.
"Our training is extensive," says Quereshy.
He also points out that the medical specialty has progressed,
with some of the newest research available to CWRU's patients.
Quereshy's work is among the cutting-edge research. In adults,
broken jaws can be repaired by oral and maxillofacial surgeons
with titanium plates and screws. When children suffer jaw fractures
from accidents, cancer or birth defects, implanted permanent titanium
plates and screws loosen as the child grows.
In 1997-98, Quereshy, with Jerold Goldberg, D.D.S., dean of CWRU
School of Dentistry and interim dean of the CWRU School of Medicine,
developed an animal model study using a dissolvable material that
the body eventually absorbs. The material also mimics the metal
plates and screws used for fractures and healing in pediatric
patients. New bone forms within six months, with the resorbable
materials dissolving. This enables the child to continue to grow
normal bone and avoid future surgeries to replace outgrown metal
plates. His research was reported in the Journal of Oral and
Maxillofacial Surgery of the American Association of Oral
and Maxillofacial Surgeons. The procedure is now in human trials
across the country.
Not only do the clinic's oral and maxillofacial surgery patients
have access to the latest technology and procedures, but they
also experience savings in costs. Because CWRU Oral and Maxillofacial
Clinic is part of the School of Dentistry, many of the procedures
are done for half the cost of a community oral surgeon, and all
patients have a team of clinical dentists and dental school students
providing services. For example, the Botox(tm) treatments run
between $220-250 at the CWRU clinic.
For information about CWRU's Oral Surgery and Maxillofacial Clinic,
call 216-368-2538.
|
