The Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery of the Hebrew University Hadassah Medical Center is the first department of oral and maxillofacial surgery in Israel.
Located at Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem and part of the Faculty of Dental Medicine we are giving service to the metropolitan Jerusalem and surrounding area and being a referral place for the entire country.
Our activity include full scope oral and maxillofacial surgery such as maxillofacial trauma, reconstructive surgery, congenital malformations, orthognathic surgery, oncologic surgery, minor oral surgery and implants.
Due to the exacerbation of Arab violence in Israel in the past few years and many suicides bombing, the department had to take a very important part in specializing in specific reconstructive surgeries. Many of the patients are young teenagers and children, Jews and Arabs, that their faces have been seriously damaged.
Taking care of trauma patients is a complex and long term treatment. The consequences may be difficult, deformational and debilitating, and may require many operations as well as reconstructive procedures. We are doing everything we can to reconstruct the damage and try to give them back functional and esthetic look so they can move on with their life.
There has been much progress in recent years and special equipment has been developed in the field of facial reconstructive surgery. A novel technique –Distraction Osteogenesis- allows us to elongate and reshape acquired and congenitally deformed facial bones. This technique uses special and expensive appliances and equipment which are not covered by the public health service in Israel. Due to financial constraints, the Department has not been able to purchase this equipment.
The Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery is currently in need of funds to buy special devices and equipment, in order to provide the best and most advance care we can.
For more information please feel free to contact the department directly, in Jerusalem at 972-2-677 6148,rzeltser@cc.huji.ac.il
Clinical Activity
The clinical activity of the Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery at the Hadassah Medical Center is conducted in two main disciplines: Dental school ambulatory clinics and emergency and elective hospitalized patients.
The ambulatory patients are treated in the clinic, which is located in the entrance floor in the Dental School building.
The patients who need major surgery and those who are referred to the emergency room (ER) are treated in the hospital facilities. They are hospitalized in the ward of the Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery on the seventh floor in the medical center.
The Ambulatory Activity
The clinic consists of:
Five operating rooms in which there are performed operations on ambulatory patients under local anesthesia and or sedation.
Five cubicles in which there are performed examinations and minor surgery, such as simple extractions.
Recovery room in which there are 3 beds for adult patients and 2 for children
A seminar room, which is indicated for case presentations and discussions on cases before and after surgery.
A small laboratory for preparation of Orthognathic Surgery cases.
The surgical procedures that are performed in the clinic are:
- Complicated surgical extractions, which are referred by dentists from private Practice.
- Extractions of impacted wisdom teeth
- Orthodontic assisted surgical procedures, such as exposure of impacted un-erupted teeth
- Surgical pre-prosthetic procedures for prosthodontic treatment
- Dental Implants
- Augmentation of alveolar ridges for implants (implantation of bone or bone substitutes, maxillary sinus augmentation etc.)
- Elongation of alveolar ridges as preparation for implants (Distraction Osteogenesis)
- Treatment of dental and soft tissues minor trauma
- Surgical treatment of tumors in the oral cavity, biopsies and resection of minor Tumors
- Control of dental and facial origin infections.
Hospital Activity
The inpatients are hospitalized in the department on the 7th floor in the hospital wing. Pediatric patients are hospitalized in Pediatric Surgery ward.
Operating room
The department major surgical activities are being executed in the main hospital operating rooms in the medical center.
Residents and the attending surgeons operate elective cases twice a week – Sundays and Wednesdays.
The emergency cases from the ER are operated mainly at nights.
The elective cases that are operated are:
- Trauma of the facial skeleton
- Benign and malignant tumors originated from the oral cavity and jawbones
- Reconstruction of jaws after oncologic surgery or trauma
- Correction of jaw deformities – Orthognathic Surgery
- Correction of jaw deformities by elongation of bone – Distraction osteogenesis
- Temporo-Mandibular Joint (TMJ) surgery
- Salivary gland surgeries
- Control of severe facial infections.