Keep reading to discover the top 5 questions patients with facial fractures need answered.

1. What Is a Facial Fracture?

A facial fracture is a broken bone in the face. Now, there are several complex bones that make up the facial structure. However, the most common bones patients break are the cheekbones (zygoma), nose (nasal), orbital bones (eye sockets), mandible (lower jaw), and maxillary bones (upper jaw). The most common of them all are nasal fractures. In addition, depending on the accident, you may fracture one or multiple bones. Multiple fractures are usually caused by high impact accidents.

2. What Causes Facial Fractures?

The majority of facial fractures are sudden. High impact traffic accidents, assaults, sports injuries and falls are common causes of injury.

3. What are the Symptoms of a Facial Fracture?

If you experience pain in your face along with swelling and bruising, you may have a fracture. If you’ve had trauma of any sort, your doctor will want to x-ray you for fractures.

Symptoms for an orbital fracture include:

• Difficulty moving your eyes right, left, up or down
• Numbness in face
• Blood discoloration in the white area of the eye

Symptoms of a nasal fracture include:

• Nosebleed
• Discoloration under the eyes
• Crooked or twisted nose or indented bridge

Symptoms of upper or lower mandible fractures include:

• Cheek pain when opening your mouth
• Trouble when chewing, speaking or eating
• Teeth not fitting together as they should

4. How do you Treat Facial Fractures?

The type of treatment of a facial fracture all depends on the location and type of injury. Surgeons may perform a closed reduction – resetting the bones without surgery. Also, an open reduction is a surgery that repositions fractured bones, making an incision in the process. However, reconstructive surgery is for a complex fracture with multiple broken bones. In addition, injuries that are life-threatening such as blocked airways or brain or nervous system injuries must be treated immediately by the surgeons.

5. How Long Does It Take for a Facial Fracture to Heal?

It will depend on the type of facial fracture you have had as well as the treatment you were given. Two to three weeks is the typical time it takes for facial bruising and swelling to go down. However, surgeons often instruct patients to wait 6-8 weeks before engaging in physical activities. The body is continuing to heal, and it is a gradual process.

Implants & Oral Surgery of Chattanooga has skilled oral surgeons who will be there every step of the way should you need help with a facial fracture. If you have questions or need to make an appointment with one of our professionals don’t hesitate to call us today at (423) 296-8210.

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Before the late 1800s, your doctor would have treated your broken jaw by simply wrapping it. Many times, broken jaws healed poorly, and even got infected. Worse, many people could not afford care, didn’t have their jaws realigned properly, and even died from malnutrition since chewing was nearly impossible. 

Now, our broken jaw patients experience excellent stabilization, proper tooth alignment, and full healing. Bars, plates, and screws aid in the healing process and help patients return to full health more quickly.  

However, jaw pain doesn’t always equal a broken jaw. Many people who have a non-fracture jaw injury can simply be prescribed pain medication and eat a soft diet. By their follow-up visits, most of these patients will have fully recovered. 

Broken Jaw Treatment and Surgery

Patients with jaw fractures need further care. In the case of gum or tissue injury (open fractures), we prescribe antibiotics and perform surgery. With stable fractures, our oral surgeons often only need to wire the upper and lower teeth together to promote proper healing. 

For unstable broken jaws, we perform surgery. This may include applying plates or perforated bars across the fracture, with screws securing the plates to the jawbone. With this method, some patients may even have normal jaw motion as soon as a week after surgery. 

After Surgery

Every broken jaw patient needs to follow up with their oral surgeon. It generally takes about six weeks to heal a broken jaw, but healing time depends on the extent of the injury and can vary. If you take all antibiotics as prescribed, healing should proceed predictably. 

When eating, follow your post-surgery recommendations. Most patients lose a little weight. This is normal, since a wired-shut jawbone will only allow for pureed foods. Your surgeon will likely have you speak with a diet specialist to make sure you get proper nutrition while healing. 

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As you recover, remember that your jaw may ache for some time even when it is safe to move normally. If you have any concerns, questions, or need advice post-surgery, please contact us! We’re always glad to help patients achieve optimal recovery. 

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Do I Have a Broken Jaw? Know Your Symptoms

Most people who end up with broken jaws start to develop symptoms right after experiencing facial trauma. The most common sign? Jaw pain. But there are other signs as well, including some that you may not be aware of.

• Teeth that don’t line up the way they should
• Unable to open your jaw completely
• Problems chewing or speaking
• Swelling
• Displaced jaw
• Numb chin or bottom lip (due to a damaged mandibular nerve)
• Bruising under your tongue or a cut in your ear canal (from the movement of a broken jawbone)
• Drooling or inability to fully close your mouth

When Do I Need to See a Doctor?

Go to the emergency room if you have any of these symptoms after trauma to your jaw:

• Your teeth don’t fit together as they should
• You have persistent bleeding in your mouth
• You’re in a lot of pain
• You have a hard time speaking
• Your jaw is swelling

The hospital is the best place to be checked for a broken jaw. You need to go to a hospital that has oral surgeons on call.

One rare, but serious, problem that some jaw fractures cause is trouble breathing. The tongue needs support to stay out of your airway, and some fractures remove that support. Call 911 if you have trouble breathing after a jaw fracture.

What Is a Broken Jaw Exam Like?

When you see a doctor, you’ll have a physical exam and likely x-rays. You’ll only need a blood test if your jaw has broken because of a health problem rather than trauma, or if you need surgery to fix the break.

1. The doctor will examine your face for any abnormal bulges, bruising, or swelling. Then, they’ll start to feel for the shape of your jawbone beneath the skin. One key factor is how well you’re able to move your jawbone. Too much difficulty will prove that something isn’t right.
2. After your external exam is done, the doctor will inspect the inside of your mouth. They’ll ask you to bite down so they can check the alignment of your teeth. If you’re unable to bite down, your doctor will order x-rays.
3. Next, the doctor will test the stability of your jawbone. They may insert a wooden tongue depressor between your teeth and ask you to hold it in place.
4. If the first three tests indicate a possible break, you’ll get x-rays next. The best x-ray process is the panoramic x-ray, one that rotates around your jaw from one side to the other. Smaller hospitals usually don’t have panoramic x-ray machines, and they’ll use the older bitewing x-rays instead. If your x-rays turn up negative at first, your doctor may order a CT scan if they think you have a broken jaw with no visible fracture lines.

How Should I Care for a Broken Jaw Before Seeing a Doctor?

If your answer to, “do I have a broken jaw?” Is “maybe,” even if you’re not sure, you need to see a doctor or an oral surgeon.

Put ice wrapped in a small towel on your jaw to control swelling while you’re on your way to the oral surgeon’s office. If your jaw isn’t the only part injured, if you’re bleeding extensively, if you’re swelling, or if you’re having trouble breathing, call 911 to be picked up by an ambulance.

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If you have a broken jaw and need surgery, Implants & Oral Surgery of Chattanooga can help. Our team of oral surgeons has decades of combined experience. We’ve helped many people regain full function after jaw surgery.

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A broken jaw (also known as a fractured mandible) is a common facial bone injury. In fact, it’s second only to the nose in terms of frequency. And only 9 other bones in the whole body are more commonly broken. That’s probably because, unfortunately, accidents happen – and the face is a vulnerable area.

But fractures aren’t the cause of all jaw pain. A dislocated jawbone can feel very much like a broken jaw when, in reality, it’s just moved out of joint. Temporomandibular joint dislocation (and lockjaw, or TMJ syndrome) is for another article to discuss.

What is a Broken Jaw Also Called?

We classify broken jaws by where and how they’re fractured. These are the 10 types of jaw fractures:

• Simple (closed): The fracture has not broken through the skin, either outside or inside the mouth.
• Compound (open): The jawbone is protruding from the skin.
• Comminuted: The bone is broken into small pieces or crushed.
• Greenstick: One part of the jaw is broken, and another part is bent. Either that, or one part is bent but not broken.
• Pathologic: a break that happens because of a bone disease.
• Multiple: two or more individual jawbone fractures.
• Impacted: Two sections of bone are driven together by force.
• Atrophic: the bone has atrophied, leading to a fracture.
• Indirect: the bone is fractured away from the point of impact.
• Complicated (complex): a break accompanied by some tissue and/or structural injury.

These can be combined, such as an “indirect simple fracture” of the lower jaw.

Who Suffers Broken Jawbones?

Men are more likely (actually, three times more likely) than women to break their jaw. Considering the high-impact nature of many sports, that makes sense. Among men, 20-30 year old men most often need treatment. A large percentage of patients with jawbone fractures had associated injuries to one or more of the following: head, neck, face, eyes, and nose.

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If you, or someone you love, has suffered a broken jaw, Implants & Oral Surgery of Chattanooga can help. As a leading facial surgery team, we’ve repaired countless broken jaws – and restored full jaw function to our patients. Just call our office or send an email to set up a free consultation.

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