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Facial and Dental Trauma After An Accident

Person with facial and dental injuries

By Grace Hancock

Facial and dental traumatic injuries can be life-altering. These types of injuries almost always call for extensive medical care, which can leave you with expensive, mounting medical bills. Also, your injuries could affect your self-esteem and everyday functionality. As a result, you may be at a loss about how you can move forward. But, if another person’s negligence caused your injuries, then there’s hope. Keep reading to learn about facial and dental trauma; what it is, how it’s treated, and how an attorney can help you in your case.

Facial Trauma Is a Type of Traumatic Injury

At Hancock Injury Attorneys, we specialize in traumatic and catastrophic injuries. A traumatic injury is a severe injury and is caused by blunt or penetrating force or even intense heat. Traumatic injuries become classified as ‘catastrophic’ if they result in permanent bodily damage.

Facial and dental trauma is a common type of traumatic injury. Other common types of traumatic injuries include severe burns, crush injuries, and herniated discs.

A traumatic facial injury, also known as maxillofacial trauma, can be a very complex injury to treat. Moreover, they often call for special medical treatment from a qualified oral surgeon.

More About Facial and Dental Trauma

These types of injuries may occur after a slip and fall or car accident. These injuries most often occur in high-speed impact car accidents.

Facial Trauma

Facial trauma is any physical damage to the face, jaw, cheekbone, or eye socket. Soft tissue injuries, burns, lacerations, bruises, fractures, and broken bones may all be classified as facial trauma.

Common facial trauma seen after an auto accident is bruising to the face. To illustrate, bruising to the face typically results from a person hitting their face against the steering wheel. Moreover, hitting your face against the steering wheel can also lead to swelling, bruising, and lacerations.

Your steering wheel isn’t the only object in your car that can cause this kind of damage. Anything within the confines of the passenger compartment becomes a dangerous flying projectile at the moment of impact.

Dental Trauma

Dental trauma can take on many different appearances. It could be as simple as having a broken or chipped tooth. Likewise, dental trauma could be damage to dentures.

Next, a third more extreme example of dental trauma is having your teeth completely knocked out. Lastly, if you have persistent toothaches, then it could be a result of you gritting your teeth during your accident. In fact, medical professionals also consider this to be dental trauma.

Seek Medical Attention

Any facial or dental injury can result in permanent facial disfigurement. If you don’t seek proper treatment, you can lose facial function. Facial dysfunction and disfiguration can lead to a loss of self-esteem. To determine the proper treatment for your injuries, seek medical attention right away.

Common Treatments for Facial and Dental Trauma

Treatment for facial and dental trauma depends on the location and severity of the injury. Thus, facial trauma may need immediate medical intervention as any lacerations to the scalp and face can result in significant bleeding. Later, you may need ongoing treatment and surgery. In general, common treatments and surgeries for facial and dental trauma include:

How a Personal Injury Attorney Can Help You

There are many benefits, like those listed below, to hiring a personal injury attorney to represent you in your claim.

Building Your Personal Injury Claim

A plaintiff may file a claim for punitive damagesagainst the defendant in a personal injury case. For example, a judge charges a defendant with punitive damages if they find them guilty of intentional misconduct. Or, the judge may do the same if they find the defendant guilty of gross negligence. As a result, the plaintiff receives extra compensation.

The plaintiff may also receive more compensation if a commercial vehicle causes their injury. To clarify, if a commercial vehicle caused the plaintiff’s injuries, that commercial vehicle driver would have commercial insurance coverage. In fact, businesses almost always have bodily insurance (BI) coverage and large amounts of insurance money. This guarantees that the plaintiff will be able to receive more financial compensation for their injuries.

An experienced lawyer can identify these areas in which the plaintiff can seek more compensation.

Recommending Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons

Facial and dental injuries call for specialized medical care. As personal injury lawyers, we’ve spent years building relationships with trusted doctors and medical professionals throughout the Tampa Bay area. We’ll be able to recommend skilled oral and maxillofacial surgeons to treat your facial and dental trauma.

Your Tampa Bay Personal Injury Accident Lawyers

Facial and dental trauma are complex injuries that can lead to permanent disfiguration. Oftentimes, these injuries call for years of medical treatment.

When someone else’s negligence leaves you with a traumatic injury, you’re left to deal with the fallout. Moreover, you must keep up with medical bills, miss work, and endure the emotional trauma of your injury. Indeed, this is a lot for one person to handle. As long as you hire a personal injury lawyer, you don’t have to handle it all alone. Contact us online or call us at (813) 901-1110 to schedule your free case consultation today.