In some cases, minor dental work may not be enough to repair or restore a brilliant smile. Whether you have missing teeth or too many teeth, oral surgery can be your best solution.
Wisdom teeth are the third set of molars that come in during a person's late teens or early twenties. While they can be a healthy and useful addition to your smile when properly aligned, this is usually not the case. If wisdom teeth come in misaligned and crowded, they can cause serious damage to the rest of your teeth, your jawbone, and even your nerves. Impacted wisdom teeth should be removed before they cause more damage to your mouth.
Wisdom tooth extraction is a type of oral surgery. The procedure begins with an anesthetic to numb the area. If multiple wisdom teeth are being removed, a general anesthetic may be used instead to put the patient to sleep during the procedure. The gum tissue will then be opened and the wisdom teeth will be removed. After removal, the gum tissue may require stitches. These can either be dissolvable or may need to be removed in a later appointment.
Dental implants are another form of oral surgery used to replace missing teeth. For those suffering from tooth loss, dental implants can be a great option for treatment of individual tooth gaps. Unlike dentures or bridges, implants do not rely on neighboring teeth or a lack thereof. A dental implant is an artificial tooth root that can be used to mount a replacement tooth. The implant and artificial tooth feel and look just like your real teeth. The result is superior both esthetically and functionally to other solutions for tooth loss. They're even known to work better than dentures and bridges when talking and eating.
A dental implant procedure requires a specialized treatment plan to decide which option best suits your needs. The surgery portion of the procedure starts with a small titanium post placed into the bone socket of the missing tooth.
Over time, your jawbone will heal and form around the post, securing it like a tooth root. This healing process takes between two to three months. Once it has healed, a connector post is attached to hold your new artificial tooth to the implant. After that, you can now enjoy your permanent new tooth as if it were part of your natural smile.
