The mission of the Department is to provide treatment and service to patients who lack organs in the head and neck region due to surgical interventions, trauma, pathology or congenital malformations.

The missing tissues like eyes, noses, ears, jaw bones, cranium, etc. are reconstructed by means of non-living substitutes (silicones, methylmetacrylate and precious metals).

During the past few years 50% of the patients treated in the department have been patients suffering from cancer of the head and neck area who have undergone extensive surgery due to malignant tumors.

The department's main task in the treatment is to restore function, speech, deglutition as well as improvement of appearance and aesthetics.

The treatment of malignant tumors starts in the early stages of hospitalization and continues in the O.R. where the patient is provided with a temporary prosthesis so that he/she is able to function and look "human" immediately after surgery. The permanent appliance, fitted later in the outpatient clinic, greatly improves the patient's quality of life, enabling a return to normal appearance.

The appliances are manufactured by technicians in the department's laboratory.

Patients are treated in collaboration with the Departments of oncology, radiation therapy, otolaryngology, plastic surgery, ophthalmology and oral surgery. They are referred for consultations and treatment from all over Israel as well as from other countries.

The Department has a fellowship program in which doctors from Egypt, Jordan and Rumania recently participated.

A main research project concentrates on developing a drug which will minimize side effect radiation damage, Xerostomia, Trismus, etc. The research started 3 years ago with natural B-Caroten. It is funded by Nikken Shonsha Inc. of Japan who recently granted an additional $ 360,000 for this purpose.