When patients require oral surgery to address a specific oral health concern, it’s often for a serious condition that their general dentists can’t successfully address in their offices. However, for many patients, their condition wasn’t always that serious, and oral surgery wasn’t always the necessary course of action. Today, we examine how a few common dental conditions can become serious enough to lead to oral surgery, and why it’s important to treat the condition as soon as possible.
A cavity that’s caused by a tooth decaying
A cavity is a hole in your tooth structure that caused by the systematic erosion of that structure. This erosion, known as tooth decay, is the result of harmful oral bacteria compromising the tooth’s enamel and infecting its main structure of dentin. In severe cases, this erosion can threaten the tooth’s inner chamber, nerves, blood vessels, and other soft tissues, leading to a severely infected root canal and tooth abscess. Removing the abscess, or pocket of infection, from the end of the root may require oral surgery. In more severe cases, surgical tooth extraction may be necessary to remove all of the infected tooth’s structure.
Gingivitis, which is the start of periodontal disease
Gingivitis is almost as common as cavities, but the nature of its threat to your oral health is slightly different. Gingivitis is also a product of harmful oral bacteria, but these bacteria accumulate along your gum line and under the tissues. This leads to infection in your periodontal tissues and ligaments, and as it progresses into m ore severe periodontitis, it can significantly erode these tissues, as well as the jawbone structure underneath them. Dealing with severe periodontal disease can require specialist treatment with a periodontitis, and rebuilding your smile might require surgical grafting to restore the strength of your jawbone structure.
The development of a third molar, or wisdom tooth
The growth and development of your third permanent molars isn’t necessarily a dental condition, but rather a natural part of your oral anatomy. However, there are often complications surrounding their development can make them a threat to your oral health, and it can be a more significant threat the longer they remain. These complications typically revolve around the fact that wisdom teeth can become impacted, forcing them to push against nearby molars and causing damage to the surrounding jawbone structure. Surgically extracting one or more wisdom teeth may be necessary to stop them from causing even more significant harm.
Learn if your condition requires oral surgery
When they aren’t treated promptly, or when they’re complicated by one or more other underlying factors, some of the more common oral health conditions may require oral surgery to successfully address. To learn more, or to schedule a consultation, call Santa Rosa Oral Surgery in Santa Rosa, CA, today at 707-545-4625.
