Facial Trauma Washington DC

Trauma to the Mouth, Face and Jaw

Dr Steven Guttenberg has broad experience in dealing with facial trauma, including trauma (injuries) to the:

• Teeth
• Gingiva (gums)
• Tongue
• Soft and Hard Palate (Roof of Mouth)
• Mandible (Lower Jaw)
• Maxilla (Upper Jaw)
• Zygoma (Cheekbone)
• Orbits (Eye Sockets)
• Nose

Among the types of events that may cause these injuries are sports mishaps, automobile and bike accidents, simple falls, and assaults and batteries (interpersonal violence). Because of his background and training as an oral and maxilllofacial surgeon, Dr Guttenberg is well suited to treat both the hard and soft tissue injuries to the mouth, the teeth, the face, and the entire facial skeleton.

Based on his education and exposure, he realizes that it is important to evaluate the entire head and neck when seeing a patient who has been injured in this manner. Injuries to the eyes or even the brain or spinal cord may accompany facial trauma. Once the correct diagnosis has been established, Dr Guttenberg understands the importance of treating the oral hard and soft tissues first before correcting the facial skeleton and then, cosmetically restoring the facial soft tissues. He has seen that when the face is stitched first, subsequent treatment of the mouth injuries may lead to compromised cosmetic results on the face and the necessity to re-suture the area. His background also allow Dr Guttenberg to repair and revise lacerations (cuts) and avulsions (loss of tissue) in the soft tissues of the mouth as well as on the face.

When repairing facial bone fractures, the doctor may choose to use either open or closed techniques. With closed reduction (repair) the bones are realigned without the necessity for an incision to be made. Open reductions require the direct, visual repair of the bones. Dr Guttenberg frequently utilizes rigid internal fixation which allows the fractured bones to heal without the necessity for wiring of the jaws.

The doctor is a senior attending surgeon at the Washington Hospital Center and contributes to the mission of the shock-trauma team by being on-call for the treatment of emergency patients who arrive by ambulance or helicopter. He is also actively involved in the training of resident doctors in the management of major maxillofacial trauma.