The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : State-of-the-art dentistry centre inaugurated

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Monday, Nov 27, 2006
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

State-of-the-art dentistry centre inaugurated

Staff Reporter

It can treat deformities, trauma relating to the face and the upper jaw

SOPHISTICATED DENTISTRY: Robert MacIntosh, surgeon from Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, looks at the facilities at Rajan Dental Institute along with the institute's medical director R. Gunaseelan in Chennai on Saturday. — PHOTO: S. S. Kumar

CHENNAI : "In the treatment of paediatric (facial) deformities which require more than one surgery, the best outcomes can be expected when the patient has been placed under correction early on," said Robert MacIntosh, former President of the American Association of Oral and Maxillo-Facial Surgeons.

Underscoring the importance of early reporting of face and jaw-related disorders, Dr. MaIntosh, currently director of facio-maxillary surgery centre, Henry Ford Hospital, University of Detroit Mercy, U.S., said the earlier the intervention the less difficult the reconstructive effort becomes for both patient and doctor. It also helps surgeons better anticipate and plan the corrective course.

He formally opened a modern `facio-maxillary surgery' centre at Rajan Dental Institute, Mylapore. It will manage deformities, diseases and trauma relating to the face and the upper jaw.

The Rs. 1 crore-subspeciality unit will be one of the few centres in the city to have the equipment and expertise to tackle complex cases of jaw deformity, cleft lip and palate, post-trauma deformities of the face, lockjaw, tumours and oral cancer. The treatment will involve modern computer techniques, video imaging, three-dimensional models and titanium materials, said R. Gunaseelan, medical director of the institute told a press conference on Saturday.

The centre will use interdisciplinary work with other specialities such as ENT, plastic surgery and ophthalmology to render reconstructive surgery.

According to the doctors, cleft lip and palate management programmes everywhere was suffering as it was deemed unattractive for young surgeons. In the U.S. it is quite common for Fellowships for Head and Neck Surgery to go unsolicited, Dr. MacIntosh said.

Charity organisations, which were already supporting various cleft surgery programmes, would play a more important role in future, Dr. Gunaseelan said.

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