Dr. Haverkorn is an expert in treating infections and frequently treats severe infections in the hospital. You can watch some of these surgeries on our YouTube channel. Severe infections can compress the airway and make it hard to breath. Dr. Haverkorn is experienced in these emergencies.
Infections come in four forms: cellulitis, abscess, both cellulitis and abscess, and/or phlegmon. Cellulitis is infection without pus, usually the area is swollen, red, tender, and may be hard. Abscess = pus. A pimple is a small abscess. A phlegmon is any area that will make an abscess soon but hasn’t made pus yet. Infections spread through anatomic “spaces” in the head and neck.
In every infection, the cause of infection must be removed. If you had an infected splinter in your arm, part of the treatment would be to remove the splinter. In dental infections the infected tooth must be removed or the infection pulp inside the tooth must be removed with a root canal. Sometimes an apicoectomy is done with the root canal to remove infection in the bone at the tip of the tooth root. Antibiotics may help for a little while but without treatment the infection will come back.
Cellulitis is treated with antibiotics and occasionally needs surgery. Cellulitis usually goes away with antibiotics but sometimes requires surgery.
An abscess is almost always treated with surgery to drain the pus and usually with antibiotics afterwards.
A phlegmon can be treated with antibiotics and/or surgery. If the antibiotics fail and the phlegmon converts to an abscess surgery is usually required.
Some difficult or resistant infections may require more than one surgery. Larger infection may require admission to a hospital and treatment in the operating room.
These surgeries include sedation if done in the office and 3 months of routine post-operative care. Routine post-operative care does NOT include a repeat infection drainage surgery if necessary.
Some of these surgeries will be done in an operating room in which case there is an additional $280 OR fee. Rounding on a patient in the hospital is $200 per day. If we off-site surgery, there is a minimum fee of $2,500 no matter what surgery we do. We do not add this fee to your total but we do charge a minimum of $2,500 even if the regular office fee would have been less than $2,500.
If done in an operating room, anesthesia will be billed by the anesthesiologist who generally accepts your medical insurance. The hospital or surgery center will also have fees that may be covered or partially covered by your medical insurance.
A consultation fee is charged to meet with the doctor and discuss an infection. If the consultation takes place in our office, the $200 fee is applied to the surgery price below if surgery is completed within 3 months of the consultation. If the consultation and surgery are on the same day, there is no separate charge for the consultation. Consultations in the hospital are more. Full details are here.
Incision & drainage (I&D), simple: $350
Usually one space & easy access.
Incision & drainage (I&D), intermediate: $820
May be more than one space or require extraoral access.
More difficult case which may require more than one surgery.
Incision & drainage (I&D), complex: $1,600
Usually extraoral and more than one space with difficult access.
More difficult case which may require more than one surgery.
Repeat I&D, washout, or debridement within 2 weeks: $325 each