Medical Conditions Overview

Mr David currently provides the following Medical services:

Craniomaxillofacial Surgery

As Head of the Australian Craniofacial Unit, Mr. David is able to provide a state of the art multidisciplinary care to patients suffering from craniofacial deformity. The categories of conditions managed are:

Craniosynostoses
Premature closure of skull sutures producing deformities of the face and skull. More complicated cases may have compromised brain development, protruding eyes, breathing difficulties and jaws that do not meet.

Rare Craniofacial Clefts
Relatively rare deformities with clefts of the bone and soft tissue, sometimes connecting the eyes, mouth and nose. This group includes hemifacial microsomia (underdevelopment of one side of the face) and Treacher Collins syndrome (genetically determined underdevelopment of both sides of the face).

Cleft Lip and Palate
The most common of craniofacial deformities. May be one sided or bilateral. May affect the lip only; lip, gum and roof of mouth or just the roof of mouth (palate). Treatment addresses appearances, speech, hearing, feeding and dentition.

Cranial Based Tumours.
Both benign and malignant tumours which occur at the base of the skull may often be effectively removed by using craniofacial surgical techniques.

Craniomaxillofacial Trauma.
The commonest problem treated by craniofacial surgeons and teams. Fractures of the face and skull, including fractures of the jaws are best managed by multi-disciplinary teams using modern techniques of craniofacial exposure, reduction of the fractures and internal fixation with fine metal plates.

Degenerations (Romberg hemifacial atrophy).
These are wasting diseases that affect both bones and soft tissues of the face and skull and sometimes other parts of the body. They occur after birth, progress and stop. Treatment can occur at this stage by reshaping the bone and replacing the soft tissue.

Aesthetic Surgery of the Craniofacial Skeleton.
Craniofacial techniques combined with aesthetic surgical techniques lend themselves to effective transformation of all regions of the face. Problems resulting from ageing as well as disease and deformity can be treated in this way.

Orthognathic Surgery.
Problems of the relationship of the jaws to one another, giving rise to problems of speech, eating and appearance are managed by the craniofacial team. Often the surgeon, speech pathologist and orthodontist work in concert.

Professor David J David in surgery

Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery

Mr. David and his team provide management and treatment of a wide range of reconstructive surgical procedures of the head and neck:

• management of cancer of the skin
• management of intra oral cancer including reconstruction
• reconstruction of the ears, nose and eyelids after trauma or cancer ablation
• a full range of aesthetic surgical procedures of the face and neck including face lift, brow lift, aesthetic nasal reconstruction, aesthetic surgery of the nose and eyelids.

Development and Management of Health System Services

Mr. David has successfully established and managed multi-disciplinary health care centres delivering this type of health care to the facially deformed in a number of countries in South East Asia, the Middle East and he has acted as a Consultant to governments and government agencies.

Prof David J David consulting in Surabaya, Indonesia.

Education
(through the University of Adelaide and The Institute of Craniofacial Studies)

Mr David has extensive experience in training graduate students in plastic and reconstructive surgery and advanced students in craniomaxillofacial surgery. In addition he has developed training systems in the multidisciplinary management of cleft lip and palate deformity for centres in South-East Asia. As Head of the Unit, he oversees the fellowship training programme in craniomaxillofacial surgery at the Australian Craniofacial Unit. He is available to design educational packages in this area of expertise.

Medical Ethics within the above specialties

Mr. David works closely with ethicists on developing ethical approaches to the rapidly advancing areas of craniofacial surgery involving prenatal diagnosis, the introduction of new technology in surgery and the selection of patients for reconstructive surgery.