Founders of Russian oral and maxillofacial surgery

Experience of evacuation hospitals and trauma treatment during the Great Patriotic War

The period of the Great Patriotic War acted as a catalyst for the rapid development of the specialty. Specialized hospitals employed a multidisciplinary approach: dentists worked side by side with neurosurgeons, ophthalmologists, and otorhinolaryngologists. This made it possible to achieve the highest functional and cosmetic results. According to statistics, patients with facial wounds ranked first in the absolute number of soldiers returned to service (95.5% for isolated soft tissue injuries and 85.1% for maxillofacial trauma).

A crucial milestone was the Moscow Conference of 1942, which officially recognized the superiority of single-jaw splinting in gunshot fractures of the jaws. During the same period, V.Yu. Kurlyandsky laid the foundations of the functional method for treating maxillofacial injuries. He provided the scientific rationale for general and specialized therapeutic physical training and introduced mechanotherapy to prevent temporomandibular joint (TMJ) contractures.

Post-war practice was profoundly influenced by fundamental works from the war years, including the publications of D.A. Entin, V.M. Uvarov, I.G. Lukomsky, and the multi-volume edition "Experience of Soviet Medicine in the Great Patriotic War".

Development of reconstructive and plastic surgery

A significant breakthrough in maxillofacial plastic surgery is associated with the name of A.A. Limberg. In 1943, he proposed an innovative method of mandibular bone grafting using a split rib, and in 1946, he published a Stalin Prize-winning work on the mathematical principles of local tissue flaps. Osteoplasty and the engraftment of bone grafts were also actively studied by A.I. Evdokimov, V.F. Rudko, and M.P. Zhakov. Specialists proved that a critical factor for success is timely primary surgical debridement (PSD).

An outstanding contribution to plastic surgery was made by F.M. Khitrov. His doctoral dissertation and subsequent monographs definitively resolved the problem of reconstructing complex defects of the nose, larynx, and neck using a Filatov tubed flap.

Special mention should be made of the progress in treating congenital facial anomalies. The schools of A.A. Limberg and A.I. Evdokimov scientifically justified the optimal timing for cleft lip and palate surgeries. Thanks to the development of anesthesiology, as early as the 1950s, Professor L.E. Frolova began successfully operating on infants in the first days of life.

Combating purulent infection and salivary gland pathology

By the 1970s, the dental community faced a serious problem: a threatening increase in severe odontogenic inflammatory processes. At the Plenum in 1973, Academician A.I. Rybakov and I.I. Ermolaev reported the emergence of dangerous complications such as mediastinitis and brain abscesses. This stimulated an in-depth study of the problem, culminating in the publication of the classic monograph by Yu.I. Bernardsky and N.N. Zaslavsky, "Essays on Purulent Maxillofacial Surgery" (1978).

Concurrently, there was active research into salivary gland diseases. Under the guidance of G.A. Vasilev (a close student of A.I. Evdokimov), his pupil I.F. Romacheva developed and introduced the method of sialography. This radiopaque technique radically improved the differential diagnosis of sialolithiasis, chronic sialadenitis, and tumors.

Emergence of dental oncology and implantology

With the rising incidence of neoplasms in the post-war years, the integration of dentistry and oncology became necessary. A significant contribution to the study of vascular tumors (hemangiomas, lymphangiomas) was made by specialists from the department of the Moscow Medical Stomatological Institute (MMSI) headed by A.I. Evdokimov, while facial tumors in children were detailed and systematized by V.V. Roginsky, who proposed a convenient clinical and histogenetic classification.

Russian dental implantology has come a long way from the initial experimental work of E.Ya. Vares and attempts to use plastics to the creation of full-fledged titanium structures. A huge role in this was played by the Kaunas school (S.P. Chepulis, O.P. Surov), which began clinical research in the early 1980s.

A historic moment that legalized the method at the state level was the signing on March 4, 1986, of USSR Ministry of Health Order No. 310. Shortly thereafter, a specialized department was opened at the Central Research Institute of Dentistry (TsNIIS) under the leadership of A.I. Matveeva, and a group of leading scientists (T.G. Robustova, M.Z. Mirgazizov, V.N. Olesova, et al.) developed the first domestic root-form implants, ushering in a new era in patient rehabilitation.

Class and exam questions

What else to study on this topic

• Classification of congenital facial clefts by Yu.I. Bernardsky and L.E. Frolova
• Method of mandibular bone grafting by A.A. Limberg
• Grouping scheme for tumors of the facial skeleton in children by V.V. Roginsky
• Development of sialography in the diagnosis of salivary gland pathologies

Other topics in the section «Chapter 1. History of the Development of Surgical Dentistry (K.A. Pashkov, A.V. Belolapotkova)»

Prepared by WhiteCoat Pro faculty in accordance with the medical school curriculum. For educational purposes only.