When you have serious issues with the health and function of your smile, such as imbalanced jaws, missing teeth, or even facial trauma, you need oral surgery. The doctors on our team have experience in helping patients of all ages with their oral surgical needs. In today’s blog, your Santa Rosa, CA, oral surgeons talk about our approach to safe and gentle oral surgery.
When You Need Oral Surgery
When should you see an oral surgeon? If you have impacted teeth or wisdom teeth soon to erupt, issues with the balance and appearance of your jaw and facial structure, serious injuries to the teeth and jaws, or even weakened jawbone structure due to tooth loss, we can help. Our doctors have experience working on the Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital Trauma Team, and maintaining our practice with the same strict guidelines and protocols as a hospital operating room. When you have serious oral health concerns, let us know!
Working With Your General Dentist or Orthodontist
You may be referred to us by your general dentist or orthodontics, or maybe you have an issue that will require treatment from them following your surgery. Regardless, we often work alongside your general dentist and orthodontist to ensure that the treatment process is a seamless one, and that care continues unabated so you enjoy optimal oral health and a beautiful smile.
Bracketing Impacted Teeth
What happens if a tooth only partially erupts? When this happens, the tooth may need bracketing to move it into position. The process involves our team attaching a bracket to the tooth and then another to an adjacent tooth. We then connect them with a small chain. We will adjust tension in the chain to help move the tooth into proper position, which could be crucial for orthodontic treatment. If the tooth cannot be bracketed, we may instead extract it.
Removing Wisdom Teeth
Also known as third molars, wisdom teeth are up to four new teeth that erupt in the rear of your mouth. These can cause misalignment, infection, damaged teeth, and could only partially erupt, causing an impaction. To avoid this, we want to extract these before they even erupt. Removing them protects your smile’s function, health, and beauty. In addition, we could conduct tooth extraction to make room for dental prosthetics or to aid in orthodontic treatment, or even to boost overall bite balance. The procedure could take as little as 30 minutes in some cases!
Placing Dental Implants
When you have missing teeth, then we could help with the placement of dental implants. These are inserted into the jawbone, where they act like new roots. For an individual one, we can insert a post and attach a crown to complete your new tooth. For those with more severe tooth loss, we could employ several posts to secure a bridge or even a denture. With options like All-On-Four, we could complete the whole process in one visit, so you leave with a full smile.
Treating Facial Trauma
When you have facial trauma, such as knocked out teeth or fractured or broken facial and jaw bones, then you need surgery to rebuild your smile. We typically start with the placement of dental implants, and then rebuild the smile around them. We want to ensure proper bite function and good oral health, but we also take your facial esthetics into account too, as we want to provide results that make you feel proud and confident.
Grafting and Sinus Lifts
What if your jawbone is too weak to support dental implants? If this is the case, we may be able to support All-On-Four dentures. If not, we can rebuild the weakened portions of your jaw. For the lower jaw, we could use grafting to add new material to the jaw so it can support dental implants. These could be tissues taken from other parts of your smile or from your hip or knee. We may also use synthetic materials. For the upper jaw, we can offer a sinus lift to raise the sinus floor and uncover new structure that can support dental implants.
If you have any questions about our approach to oral surgery, or if you want to undergo oral surgery to improve your smile’s health and function, then contact our team today to learn more.
Talk to Our Team About Oral Surgical Care in Santa Rosa, CA
Oral surgery can help address serious issues too complex for your general dentist or orthodontist. To learn more about how we restore smiles of all ages, then give us a call at Santa Rosa Oral Surgery at (707)545-4625 today!
