A graduate of the Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Dr. George Hatzigiannis practices oral and maxillofacial surgery from his private practice in Boston. As an oral surgeon, Dr. George Hatzigiannis conducts an array of procedures, with one of the most common being the removal of wisdom teeth.The last teeth in the mouth to develop are the third molars, known more commonly as wisdom teeth. People usually begin to develop wisdom teeth around the age of 10, but these molars may not erupt until individuals are in their late teens and 20s. If these teeth do not fully erupt and grow in a way that causes them to be misaligned between the gums and jaw bone, they can potentially cause damage to the surrounding teeth and tissues.Statistics suggest that as many as 85 percent of people have a need for wisdom tooth extraction procedures in their lifetime, although not everyone will need to have all four teeth extracted. The lower molars are more commonly removed than the upper molars and are more likely to cause oral diseases such as pericoronitis if left in the mouth.
Dr. George Hatzigiannis is an experienced oral and maxillofacial surgeon located in Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. George Hatzigiannis is knowledgeable in various areas, including orthognathic surgery.Orthognathic surgery involves a surgeon adjusting certain parts of a patient’s facial skeleton to achieve proper functionality. Most often, the procedure is used to straighten a patient’s jaw. Jaw misalignment can lead to a number of serious health problems, including deformities throughout the cranio-orbital skeleton.An orthognathic procedure can be viewed as a holistic surgery in that it necessitates a collaboration between the surgeon, various dental professionals, and potentially a restorative prosthodontist. In the United States, between 1.5 million and 2 million individuals could benefit from orthognathic intervention, with 500,000 people living with Class III deformities. Individuals interested in learning more about the potential benefits of orthognathic surgery should discuss the matter with their dentist, though they may need to obtain a referral to an experienced maxillofacial surgeon.
With more than a decade of experience as a dental practitioner, Dr. George Hatzigiannis is a respected presence in the Boston dental community. Focusing on oral and maxillofacial surgery, Dr. George Hatzigiannis has published extensively in this field. Among the papers he co-authored is “Undifferentiated Cardiac Sarcoma Metastatic to the Maxilla: Report of a Case.”The paper looks at primary cardiac sarcomas, which are aggressive, rare, malignant mesenchymal neoplasms. A form of abnormal growth associated with cancer, the condition is extremely difficult to counter. While comprising a very small percentage of the heart’s primary neoplasms, the tumors are adept at metastasis and usually invade vital anatomic structures that lie adjacent.The paper concerns a case of lesions impacting a patient’s molars and premolars. The patient’s recent medical history was important since he had been diagnosed with undifferentiated high-grade sarcoma of the left atrium, which had metastasized into the brain. Surgical resection had removed the primary tumor, but the patient had suffered a cerebrovascular accident in the immediate postoperative period and received medication and radiation treatment. The core interest of this case is in the links between oral and maxillofacial pathologies and cardiac sarcoma conditions that are more common in other parts of the body.
An oral and maxillofacial surgeon, Dr. George Hatzigiannis has led an independent practice in Boston since 2007. Dr. George Hatzigiannis comes to this role with an in-depth knowledge of treatment options for cancer of the maxilla and nearby structures, such as the maxillary sinuses. If cancer cells have begun to develop in the tissue that covers the maxillary sinus, located inside of the cheekbones on each side of the nose, physicians may classify the situation as a stage 0 cancer. Also known as carcinoma in situ or pre-cancer, this diagnosis indicates the potential for, but not the presence of, a cancer situation.If the cancer begins to grow, it starts within that initial origin point of the maxillary sinus. This is known as stage 1 cancer, which means that the cancer has not yet spread to other nearby tissues. Once the cancer begins to invade the sinus floor or bony tissue that covers the sinus opening, but has not yet invaded the back of the sinus or elsewhere, the diagnosis is stage 2 cancer.Most patients with stage 1 or stage 2 maxillary sinus cancer undergo surgery and often radiation to attempt to remove the tumor. This is also a likely treatment plan for a patient with stage 3 maxillary sinus cancer, which has begun to grow into the sinus bones or an adjacent lymph node. Patients with this stage of cancer may receive chemotherapy as well. If the cancer has spread to more than one lymph node and caused one node or more to grow bigger than 3 centimeters, or if the tumor has spread into adjacent structures such as the eye, skull, or frontal sinuses, the cancer is stage 4. This stage is also diagnosed if the tumor is classified as T4 for size or has metastasized to other body systems. Patients with this stage of cancer may still undergo surgery if the tumor is removable by such a technique, though some stage 4 cancers have progressed beyond this point and may instead call for radiation and/or chemo as a primary mode of treatment.
