What is an Oral Surgeon?

Surgical Extractions involve the removal of teeth that cannot be easily accessed, either because they have broken under the gum line, they are impacted(leaning against another tooth) or because they have not erupted fully. To remove a tooth surgically, a flap of gum tissue may need to be raised, and a small amount of bone that may be overlying the tooth's roots may need to be removed. You will likely require sutures after surgical extraction. Recovery typically requires a few extra days than would be anticipated following a simple extraction.

Dental implant surgery is a procedure that replaces tooth roots with metal, screwlike posts and replaces damaged or missing teeth with artificial teeth. When restored dental implants look and function much like real teeth. Dental implant surgery can offer a welcome alternative to dentures or bridgework that doesn't fit well and can offer an option when a lack of natural teeth roots don't allow building denture or bridgework tooth replacements.

A dental bone graft is necessary when bone loss has occurred in your jaw. When teeth or roots are removed the jaw-bone levels in those areas decrease over time. A dental bone graft restores volume and density in your jawbone so that dental implants can be placed. This bone grafting surgery may need to be carried out at the time of extraction, before implant treatment or at the time of implant placement. If necessary, your surgeon will go into further information about this during the consult appointment.

Wisdom teeth, or third molars, are the last permanent teeth to appear (erupt) in the mouth. These teeth usually appear between the ages of 17 and 25. Wisdom teeth may need to be removed if they are partially erupted (halfway through the gum), impacted (don’t have enough room to erupt into the mouth), cause infection or if there is decay or gum disease in the wisdom tooth or the tooth beside it.

Occasionally teeth are buried in the jawbone during development and unable to erupt normally. This sometimes results in a gap in your smile. In addition, impacted teeth may damage the roots of neighbouring teeth or push them into the wrong position. To align buried teeth into your smile, they must be uncovered so that your orthodontist can move them into the correct position with braces. Once the tooth is uncovered it may erupt spontaneously or may need an orthodontic attachment bonded onto it to help it move the tooth into the desired position.

Cysts are fluid-filled cavities that can sometimes develop in the jaws. They can be present for many years in some cases before ever being noticed or found. They tend to stay dormant in the jaws for many years and very often are noticed coincidentally on an x-ray, when a dentist may be looking at other teeth in that area. Sometimes they become noticeable if they begin to increase or get infected. Depending on how the cyst looks, a biopsy will be taken to find out what type of cyst it is and then further surgical treatment may be needed to fully remove it. Unfortunately, dental cysts don’t go away on their own and need to be removed or drained by a dentist.