When you have serious issues with your smile that can be addressed by your general dentist or orthodontist alone, then you may need oral surgery. We can address wisdom teeth, missing teeth, and even impactions. In today’s blog, your Santa Rosa, CA, oral and maxillofacial surgeons talk about our approach to oral surgery.
Examining Your Smile
Our will start by examining your smile to assess the cause and severity of the issue you are seeing us for. We want to plan treatment in detail to ensure optimal results and esthetically-pleasing ones too. Every smile is unique, and the use of digital x-rays and CBCT technology enables our team to make a diagnosis with precision and accuracy, and to plan care with greater detail. This can aid in simple procedures like tooth extraction, or even aid in treating facial trauma or jaw surgery.
Anesthesia and Sedation
Our team wants to ensure your oral surgery is a comfortable experience too. We can administer a local anesthetic to the area being treated to numb the surrounding structures so you don’t feel discomfort. We also offer dental sedation, which can help those undergoing more extensive treatments stay comfortable, even if they have special needs, high anxiety levels or an overactive gag reflex. We have trained anesthesiologists on our team who will monitor you throughout the process too. The sedation option we choose will be based on your factors like your medical history, any medications you are currently taking, age, weight, and more. We can offer nitrous oxide, oral conscious, and IV sedation for our patients.
Wisdom Tooth Extraction
A common form of oral surgery we offer is wisdom tooth extraction. As a person approaches his or her late teens and early 20s, up to four new molars can erupt in the rear of the mouth. Their arrival can cause misalignment, infection, damaged teeth, impaction, and more. But we can gently extract these teeth, often in as little as 30 minutes, to help protect your smile. Tooth extraction can also make room for orthodontic treatment, pave the way for implant dentures, or help improve bite bacon and chewing function. Our team may even work alongside your orthodontist or general dentist.
Bracketing Impacted Teeth
What if you have a tooth that only partially erupts? An impacted tooth could complicate your bite balance and stand in the way of orthodontic treatment too. But we can help by bracketing the tooth into position. This oral surgical procedure involves attaching a bracket to the tooth in question and another to a nearby tooth. We then connect them with a crown and adjust tension to gently shift the tooth over a period of weeks and months. This moves the tooth into position so you can continue orthodontic treatment and obtain an even smile. If an impacted tooth cannot be bracketed, then our team could extract the tooth.
Placing Dental Implants
When you have a tooth extracted or lose one to poor oral health or injury, this leaves behind a gap that not only causes embarrassment, but could increase the risk of misalignment and issues eating or speaking. To replace the missing tooth and also stimulate jawbone growth to avoid further tooth loss or an aged appearance, we can secure dental implants. With oral surgery, we will insert new tooth roots, made from biocompatible titanium posts into the jawbone. The body accepts them as natural root structure, which means your new tooth can stay in place for decades to come, possibly even a lifetime. We can address a single missing tooth, completing it with a custom crown, or we could use several to support a bridge or even a full set of dentures. With options like All-On-Four, we could secure a set of implant dentures in only one visit!
If you have any questions about oral surgery, or if you have a complex oral health concern that needs attention, then contact our team today to learn more. With the right treatment options, we can help you smile with confidence, obtaining results that boost the health, function, and beauty of your smile.
Learn More About Improving Smiles in Santa Rosa, CA
We want to offer treatment to improve the overall health and function of your smile, and to boost smile beauty in the process. To learn more about how we handle complex oral health issues, then give us a call at Santa Rosa Oral Surgery at (707)545-4625 today! We want to restore your smile to optimal oral health, function, and beauty once again.
