From the street fights of the Bronx to the “horse wrecks” of Montana, to the wrinkles and sags of ordinary aging, Kitsap’s newest surgeon has seen virtually no end to the problems his brand of maxillofacial surgery can solve. What’s a “horse wreck” you ask?

“While I was in Montana, I saw a fair number of people who were involved in facial trauma type accidents caused by livestock,” relates Dr. Derek Boyden. “A whole new category called a ‘horse wreck.’ That didn’t mean they were riding their horse and fell off, but that one or way or another a horse was involved, which caused a severe laceration or a crush injury or a fracture. “

Of course, Dr. Boyden, who attended 18 months at the famous institute of Facial Surgery in Missoula, brings a lot more to his new surgical practice alongside Dr. Michael Kulikowski at the South Kitsap Healthcare Campus than just good horse sense.

After nine years earning his Doctor of Dental Surgery, including a four-year residency in oral and Maxillofacial surgery at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, and post-doctoral training in Chicago and Los Angeles, Dr. Boyden says he will be providing Kitsap residents with some surgical services that aren’t being performed elsewhere in the region. His degree of expertise in the most modern and complex orthagnathic and craniofacial trauma procedures will allow his practice to offer a one-stop shopping experience.

“We offer such a broad spectrum of surgical procedures that we have things to offer a lot of different people,” the doctor says. Fortunately, on our northwestern piece of the national turf , the practice won’t be going up against the interpersonal violence that flares up on the streets of New York.

“Within the population here, I’ve seen a lot of patients that have been referred for scar revisions for Acne scarring. We’ll do laser resurfacing or microderm abrasion to smooth out the skin. I’ve also been seeing patients for consultation for some muscleplasties, for example, eye tucks, and forehead lifts. “

And the face of dentistry is changing as well. Dr. Boyden feels that the reconstruction of the Maxillofacial region with bone grafts in order to allow implants will become standard for restoring teeth so that people don’t have to wear bridges or dentures. It’s a tri-fold plan: It takes a dentist, and it takes a surgeon and it takes a patient.

Is elective surgery increasing based on the upward mobility and greater income of society as a whole?

“More people are opting to take advantage of the procedures we do simply because of their awareness,” says Dr. Boyden. “They’re better educated consumers than previous generations have been. The information is more readily accessible either in periodicals, on television, or on the Internet, and I think that people are just smarter in regards to their health care, so they are more interested in availing themselves of some of these opportunities.

The tools of the trade are also changing the face of things.

“The CO2 laser that we use for laser resurfacing is an emerging technology,” advises Dr. Boyden. “Basically, it blasts old skin away and lets new skin grow. We have another laser which is a different wavelength of light so we can use it do things like hair removal. That same type of laser can also be used to get rid of spider veins. We’re also doing microderm abrasion. It’s non-invasive. People can get it done over lunch time and go back to work. It’s like a super facial. All of the skin care things meld well with our surgical cosmetic options. Botox is something we are also doing more of.” Botox are injections that paralyzes a muscle and get rid of wrinkles.

A new layer of skin? Well, it’s a lot simpler than a horse wreck.