What are some different types of oral surgery?

Posted on: 18 February 2016

Oral surgery is an area of dental practice that provides treatments for severe dental infections, helps with orthodontic treatment, and can help with replacing missing teeth. Here are some different types of oral surgery procedures you may need at a certain point in your life.

Extractions 

There are many different reasons you might need to have a tooth extracted. For example, you may have teeth that are getting in thew ay of proper orthodontic treatment due to overcrowding, which the dentist will remove prior to putting on braces. You may also have wisdom teeth erupting that need to be removed. Dentists often prefer to have them pulled since they can cause jaw pain, overcrowding, and infections due to how difficult they are to clean. You may need to pull a baby tooth if an adult tooth never erupted through the gums, or have a tooth removed with a severe infection as an alternative to getting a root canal. If part of your tooth broke and there isn't enough for a crown, your dentist may recommend pulling it and getting a bridge or dental implant in its place.

Dental Implants

Another common oral procedure you may need is a dental implant. This is a way to replace a missing tooth without having to get a restorative procedure like a bridge or partial denture. With implants, the metal post is implanted into the jawbone of the missing tooth. If the bone has already started to deteriorate, you may need a bone graft done first. Once the bone is ready, a hole is drilled and the post is implanted. The gums are then sutured and you wait a few months for the bone to heal and close around the post. This holds it in place, after which you have an artificial tooth attached to the top of the post.

Jaw Surgery

If you are having pain or biting issues, it might be due to misalignment of your jaw. Even if you aren't going to get orthodontic treatment to fix an overbite or underbite, you can still have surgery on your jaw. This is a type of corrective jaw surgery that will help to reduce pain from the misalignment ,make it easier to talk and chew, and also improve your facial appearance. This is typically saved for more severe jaw issues, not a simple overbite.

If you have any more questions about different oral surgeries available, speak to your dentist.

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