Sometimes, people think dentistry is only dedicated to placing braces, professional whitening, or deep cleaning. However, dentistry as a profession related to medicine also has some procedures that go beyond making the smile look better aesthetically.
Dental oral surgery is more common than one might think. Anyone is prone to have a problem in the mouth that forces them to have a procedure of this magnitude. Despite this, there is still some fear when going to the dentist to undergo surgery. That is why it is important to know how each one of the existing dental oral surgery procedures works.
Extraction
Tooth extraction is a dental oral surgery that thousands of patients are reluctant to undergo. Knowing that one of your teeth will need to be extracted may seem painful and risky. However, this procedure can be done in many painless ways, both during and after the surgery. Also known as exodontia, this tooth extraction procedure is commonly done when a tooth is infected, damaged, or needs to be removed to preserve the health of the rest of the mouth. This surgery is also usually performed on wisdom teeth, which, if not extracted promptly, can cause unbearable pain to the patient when eating or performing any other action.
There are two ways to perform the extraction:
- Simple extraction: Any general dentist can perform this procedure, which is done with a tooth that can be seen in the mouth. The extraction is simple; the dentist loosens the tooth with an “elevator” and then uses a “forceps” to extract the tooth. Local anesthesia is used for this procedure.
- Surgical extraction: This procedure is mainly used when a tooth may have broken off at the gum line or has not yet erupted. This type of dental oral surgery is performed with a small incision (cut in the gum), so sometimes it is necessary to remove part of the bone around the tooth or cut the tooth in half to remove it. Fortunately, anesthesia is also used for this procedure to avoid pain.
Dental Implants
Dental implants are a very common dental oral surgery. It is so common that there are many techniques and materials for the placement of dental implants. Dental implants are an orthodontic procedure consisting of placing a screw attached to the jaw bone, which will function as a base for a dental crown. Placing the dental implant in the jawbone may sound painful. However, it is not because it is not attached to other teeth, and there will be no problem when you want to chew some kind of food, and it causes pain in the other teeth.
This dental oral surgery is usually done when a tooth is in a state of decay or has suffered some breakage.
Bone Grafting
Bone grafting is a technique performed to increase the amount of bone that has been lost due to different factors. This dental oral surgery aims to restore dental support functions and esthetics. Some factors that can cause this bone loss are:
- Absence of teeth.
- Traumatism.
- Use of removable prosthesis.
- Periodontal disease.
- Physiological bone resorption.
Two of the most common ways to perform this procedure are:
- Autografts: This graft is made from a donor area by the patient. This allows the transplantation of living cells, avoids transmitting contagious diseases, and does not allow immunological rejection since this material comes from the same patient.
- Allograft: This type of graft is obtained from another individual. It is currently the most commonly used to rehabilitate bone defects since it can be made of synthetic materials.
Periodontal Surgery
Periodontal surgery is an uncommon dental oral surgery. The most basic technique of this procedure is the famous dental curettage. This technique is the basic periodontal treatment and is usually performed when the patient suffers from dental pyorrhea. This technique consists of lifting the gum to disinfect and clean the infected area of the root.
However, if the pyorrhea is very advanced, this procedure will be insufficient to remove all the solidified tartar. When the tartar hardens, and ordinary tooth brushing cannot remove it, it will be necessary to separate and lift the flap so that the professional has a better view. This way, the area can be cleaned, disinfected, and then sutured.
Corrective Jaw Surgery
This type of dental oral surgery is also known as jaw surgery and can be a corrective option if you have jaw problems that cannot be solved with orthodontics. In some cases, braces are usually worn on the teeth before surgery and during post-surgical recovery until healing and alignment are complete.
This type of surgery can be performed on the upper jaw, lower jaw, chin, or a combination of both. Each procedure has its requirements, so it is highly personalized in this case. In this surgery, the orthodontist can work with the oral surgeon, mandibular surgeon, or facial surgeon (maxillofacial surgery).
In Draw Clinic, we have a dental clinic customized to the needs of each patient, thus offering security and guarantee in each of our procedures. So the fear of having any oral dental oral surgery will not be a problem thanks to our highly trained staff supported with the best in dental technology.
