The idea behind keeping up with good hygiene and visiting your dentist regularly is to prevent, or at least minimize, issues that can compromise your good oral health. When prevention fails, the right general or restorative dental treatment may help you address whatever issue arises. However, in some cases, you may experience an issue with your teeth and/or oral structures that requires more than routine care and treatment. For example, in these instances, oral surgery is often the only solution for successfully restoring your good oral health.
1. Your wisdom teeth are impacted
Your third molars, or wisdom teeth, are the last teeth to develop and erupt at the ends of your dental ridges, right after your second permanent molars. Unlike your other teeth, a third set of molars isn’t necessarily vital for your bite to function properly, and for some patients, they can cause problems due to crowding issues. When wisdom teeth become impacted, or stuck, within your jawbone structure and remain unable to erupt fully, the discomfort can become intense. Extracting them may be necessary to alleviate it, and to prevent them from causing extensive damage to your oral structures.
2. You’ve suffered facial trauma
Facial trauma can occur to varying degrees, and the damage may involve one or more of your teeth, your jawbone structure, and/or your surrounding facial structures. Oral and maxillofacial surgery is a common and often essential part of recovering from facial trauma. The right surgical procedure (or combination of procedures) can help restore your facial appearance as well as the proper alignment and function of your oral and facial structures.
3. Your jawbone has grown weak
Whether it’s part of more comprehensive facial trauma or the result of a chronic oral health issue (like periodontal disease), jawbone erosion is a common factor in the need for oral surgery. For example, you might lose jawbone mass and density as a result of the damage that periodontal causes, or as a progressive concern following the loss of your teeth roots. To rebuild your smile and the integrity of your jawbone structure, we might suggest surgical bone grafting to strengthen it. This can often be a prerequisite to receiving dental implants to replace lost teeth, which are designed to mimic your teeth roots and are surgically placed within your jawbone structure.
Find out if you need oral surgery
For some complex issues, surgery is the most appropriate solution to restoring your good oral health. For more information, schedule a consultation by calling Santa Rosa Oral Surgery in Santa Rosa, CA, today at 707-545-4625.
