In the News

Doctor opens facial and oral surgery center

 Date: August 5, 2009
by: Pam McTeer | News Editor
 

 

MANATEE COUNTY — With the click of a mouse, Dr. Prashant Pandya pulls up a picture of one of the many people who changed his life.

The man in the image had come to Shands Jacksonville Medical Hospital with a bloodied mass for a face. Prashant, who was then studying to be an oral and facial surgeon, helped transform it.

He clicks the mouse again, and this time, a picture of the same man appears with a face that is scarred but recognizable.

The ability to help piece lives back together so profoundly is what propelled Pandya from his lifelong dream of being a dentist to becoming an oral surgeon.

“It gave me instant gratification when I could help them out and achieve good results,” Pandya said. “I knew I wanted to be an oral surgeon. I wanted to be involved in the community and be available to help people who need this service. I just love it.”

Pandya ventured to Manatee County after finishing his medical training on June 20, filling a need for an oral and facial surgeon at Manatee Memorial Hospital. He opened his own practice on Lena Road, the Manatee Oral and Facial Surgery Center, on July 6.

From his new East County location, Pandya can do consultations and procedures such as pulling out wisdom teeth or giving Botox injections. For more complicated procedures such as dental implants or bone grafting, he can work on patients at Lakewood Ranch Medical Center or at Manatee Memorial, he said.

Pandya was introduced to oral surgery during his second year of dental school at the University of Louisville, Ky. Trauma cases, in particular, sparked his interest. Although Pandya had come from a long line of dentists, he realized surgery was his life’s calling.

“I got exposed to surgery, and that changed everything,” he said.

After dental school, he began his training at Shands Jacksonville Medical Center at the University of Florida to become an oral maxillofacial surgeon. As Pandya worked to finish his residency, he began looking for places where he could relocate his family and start his practice.

“I felt like there was a void in Bradenton because there’s nobody doing facial trauma at the hospital,” Pandya said. “On the east side of Bradenton, there was this beautiful community that had to travel way west or way south to have their oral surgery needs taken care of. I grabbed onto that.”

Contact Pam McTeer at pmcteer@yourobserver.com.

The Manatee Oral & Facial Surgery Center
ADDRESS
: 5460 Lena Road, Bradenton
PHONE: 755-OMFS
E-MAIL: pandyaomfs@aol.com

LIST OF SERVICES
Extractions
Impacted teeth
Implants
Apicoectomy
Alveoloplasty
Infection
Lesion and evaluation
Celft lip and palate
Orthogathic evaluations
Oral/facial lesions
TMJ
Facial cosmetic surgery
Bone grafting
Trauma
Pre-prosthetic surgery
And more

 

 

 

Benefit from Reconstructive
and Cosmetic Procedures

 

We are proud to welcome Prashant Pandya, DMD, to the community. An oral and maxillofacial surgeon, he performs procedures for the mouth, face and neck that include the following:

  • Removal of diseased or impacted teeth, including wisdom teeth
  • Correction of jaw disorders and bite defects
  • Dental implants
  • Facial trauma surgery
  • Cleft lip and palate surgery
  • Treatment of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders
  • Removal of facial tumors or cysts
  • Sinus surgery
  • Treatment of oral cancer or facial skin cancer

Dr. Pandya recently returned from a trip to the Philippines, where he was part of a surgical team that performed cleft lip and palate surgeries for children without access to regular medical care.

A Better Bite

Advancements in imaging, instrumentation, anesthesia and implant technology have made many oral surgeries more effective and less invasive, Dr. Pandya says. Many patients may benefit from dental implants, which are permanent alternatives to fixed bridges or removable dentures. Implants feature a titanium metal root that fuses with the jawbone and provides a stable support. Also, unlike bridges and dentures, implants do not contribute to decay in adjacent healthy teeth.

"Dental implants have a 95 percent success rate," Dr. Pandya says. "They're so much like natural teeth that most patients forget that they have them."

Faster Recoveries

Facial trauma surgery techniques also have made significant advances. "Three-dimensional imaging helps us pinpoint the location of facial fractures and better reconstruct the anatomy," Dr. Pandya says. Recovery also is less painful. "We used to have to wire a patient's mouth shut after certain procedures to allow the jaw to heal, but we now have better implant materials, instrumentation and techniques that make that unnecessary."

Dr. Pandya completed dental school at the University of Louisville School of Dentistry and an oral/maxillofacial residency at Shands Jacksonville Medical Center, part of the University of Florida Health System.

Prashant Pandya, DMD

Prashant Pandya, DMD
Manatee Oral and Facial
Surgery Center, LLC
5460 Lena Road
Suite 102
Bradenton, FL 34211
941-755-6637

 

Looking Good

Cosmetic procedures at Manatee Memorial for the face and neck include the following:
  • Botox® and Juvéderm® cosmetic injections
  • Rhinoplasty (nose surgery)
  • Eye and neck lifts
  • Chemical and laser facial skin rejuvenation
  • Facial skin lesion removal

Many of these procedures can be performed in the office and offer short recovery times.