Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

The Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery of Dongguan People's Hospital is a Dongguan key clinical specialty and the chair unit of the Dentistry Branch of the Dongguan Physicians Association. It has long played a leading and exemplary role in the city's oral and maxillofacial specialty field, and is also a standing committee member unit of several stomatological associations in Guangdong Province, giving it marked specialty influence across the province. As the only medical institution in Dongguan with a standardised residency training base in oral and maxillofacial surgery, the department integrates clinical care, teaching and research. It has six subspecialty groups, fully covering dentoalveolar surgery, head and neck tumours, congenital deformities, maxillofacial trauma and plastic surgery, implant dentistry, and orthognathic surgery and the temporomandibular joint. Each group is led by a Chief or Associate Chief Physician, with mature techniques and standardised procedures.

Staffing The department has a well-structured, highly skilled professional team, and every year selects young and middle-aged core staff for advanced training at well-known hospitals in China. It currently has 1 master's student supervisor in oral and maxillofacial surgery of Southern Medical University, 2 Chief Physicians, 2 Associate Chief Physicians, 3 Attending Physicians and 1 Physician. The nursing team comprises 1 Associate Chief Nurse, 8 nurses of the "zhuguan hushi" grade, 6 nurses of the "hushi" grade and 1 nurse. Within the team there are 1 holder of a doctoral degree and 5 holders of master's degrees, including 1 discipline leader in oral and maxillofacial surgery and 2 discipline core members of Dongguan's public hospitals; the talent reserve is strong.

Facilities and layout The department is divided into two functional areas, inpatient and outpatient: The inpatient area is on Level 10 of Inpatient Building 3, Honglou Campus; the care environment is excellent and 50 beds are open. The outpatient area is in the Dentistry Department on Level 3 of the Honglou Outpatient Department, Honglou Campus, with specialist clinics for maxillofacial surgery, orthodontics, implant dentistry and aesthetic dentistry. The department's service volume has long ranked among the leading positions of comparable specialties in the city.

Equipment The total value of the department's equipment exceeds RMB 10 million. It has 8 imported comprehensive dental treatment chairs, and is equipped with intelligent high-frequency electrosurgical units, ultrasonic bone scalpels, digital dental CT, panoramic X-ray machines, and internationally renowned implant systems including Swedish systems. It also has WAND painless anaesthesia devices, motor-driven nickel-titanium root canal preparation systems, ultrasonic scalers, light-curing units and other advanced diagnostic and treatment equipment, providing hardware support for precision medicine.

Research and academic work Under the leadership of Director Wang Dong, the department continuously tackles new techniques. Its research achievement "Animal Experimental Study of Gene Therapy for Temporomandibular Joint Osteoarthropathy" received the second prize of the Dongguan Science and Technology Progress Award. It has so far undertaken 7 provincial and municipal research projects in total, with 3 projects currently in progress, and in recent years has published more than 30 papers in domestic and international professional journals. Its specialist technical level is leading in the city and advanced in the province.

Core specialised techniques

1. Comprehensive treatment of head and neck tumours Standardised surgical treatment is routinely carried out for all types of benign and malignant maxillofacial tumours (such as cysts, lymphangiomas, ameloblastomas, parotid and submandibular gland tumours, tongue cancer, gingival cancer, buccal cancer and others). Microsurgical and pedicled flap techniques are used proficiently to repair defects and reconstruct organs promptly after tumour resection, significantly improving patients' postoperative quality of life.

2. Fine repair of maxillofacial trauma The department is skilled in managing fractures of the upper and lower jaws, zygomatic bone, zygomatic arch and condylar process, and soft-tissue and nerve injuries. It has in particular overcome the clinical difficulties of old facial fractures, naso-orbito-ethmoid fractures and reconstruction of post-traumatic defects. Using miniature drills and saws, fibreoptic illumination and miniature internal fixation systems, it performs minimally invasive surgery through an intraoral approach, taking into account both functional recovery and the cosmetic effect of facial scars.

3. Individualised staged treatment of cleft lip and palate For cleft lip and palate deformities, it provides multidisciplinary, individualised diagnostic and treatment plans covering speech therapy, psychological intervention, orthodontics, prosthodontics, implant dentistry and other stages, helping patients obtain both ideal functional recovery and improved appearance.

4. Comprehensive treatment of haemangiomas and vascular malformations It carries out standardised comprehensive treatment plans combining medication and surgery, completing nearly 60 related operations each year, and uses minimally invasive, precise treatment methods to eliminate facial deformities and improve physiological function.

5. Diagnosis and treatment of temporomandibular joint diseases and facial pain It provides systematic comprehensive treatment for conditions such as temporomandibular joint disorders, trigeminal neuralgia and facial nerve palsy.

6. Combined orthognathic and orthodontic treatment of dentomaxillofacial deformities For mandibular prognathism (underbite), maxillary protrusion (prominent front teeth), a small mandible, maxillary retrusion, facial asymmetry, enlargement of the mandibular angle and secondary deformities after cleft lip and palate surgery, it carries out combined orthodontic and orthognathic correction.

7. Repair of soft- and hard-tissue deformities It performs repair surgery for various maxillofacial deformities including cleft lip, cleft palate, craniofacial clefts, deviation of the oral commissure, microstomia and defects of the vermilion border.

8. Minimally invasive dentoalveolar surgery It fully carries out minimally invasive extraction (particularly of complex impacted and embedded teeth), alveolar bone reshaping, dental implantation and replantation, and standardised treatment of wisdom-tooth pericoronitis, space infections and osteomyelitis of the jaws. Minimally invasive techniques can effectively reduce postoperative reactions and reduce bone resorption, creating good baseline conditions for subsequent implant rehabilitation. It also performs preprosthetic surgical procedures such as alveolar ridge reshaping, palatal torus and mandibular torus reshaping, deepening of the labiobuccal sulcus and frenulum correction. Among these, the comprehensive treatment of severe multi-space infections reaches an advanced level within the province.

9. Dental implant technology Internationally renowned implant systems have been introduced. Several thousand implant operations have been completed since 2004, with clinical data showing a 5-year success rate above 98% and a 10-year success rate above 95%. Relying on digital implantology, intraoral scanning and chairside CAD/CAM technology, immediate restoration after implant surgery is achieved.

Doctor–patient Q&A: the facts you need to know about dental implants

Question: How exactly is a dental implant "planted"? Answer: A dental implant is not the commonly misunderstood idea of "sowing a seed to grow a tooth". Instead, a refined surgical procedure places an artificial root made of pure titanium or a titanium alloy into the alveolar bone; once the artificial root and the alveolar bone have completed stable osseointegration, the matching upper crown is fitted. The whole procedure is performed under local anaesthesia and is safe and reliable.

Question: Does implant surgery hurt? Answer: Compared with some complex extraction procedures, the postoperative reactions to dental implants are usually milder. With an experienced team of doctors and precise anaesthesia techniques, all healthy people who can tolerate routine extractions and minor outpatient surgery can basically tolerate implant surgery smoothly. There is no need for excessive fear; implants are far less frightening than the public imagine.