subject: All About Dental Surgery [print this page] Everyone dreads having to sit in the dentist chair twice a year. The truth is if you take care of your teeth and listen to your dentist you will not have to visit them anymore than you have to. If you are preparing yourself for a dental visit, take a look at the various types of dental surgery you may be faced with.
At a certain point in your life, typically your teen years you will need to get your wisdom teeth removed. This has always been one of the most popular types of dental surgery. Your dentist will put you to sleep and either pull or cut out the wisdom teeth. Keep in mind, if you do not get this taken care of your wisdom teeth may shift everything in your mouth.
If you play a little rough and you lose a tooth, you may need to see your dentist to get a replacement. This type of surgery is considered to be a dental implant. The dentist will sit down with your and take a look at your tooth and go from there. This is usually an outpatient process.
People have lots of reasons to undergo oral surgery, and many of them go beyond just pulling a random tooth from time to time. This procedure can be required due to injuries, birth defects, and the repair of both previous procedures, as well as the removal of abnormal and cancerous growths around the jaw area. The world of oral surgery is not just for the aftermath of bad dental hygiene any longer.
Impacted Teeth
Wisdom teeth, the transitional bane and the coming of age trial for many youth, appear just as we are moving from teens to twenties. If we are blessed, they come in straight and strong, and do not cause us any drama. If we are not so lucky, they come in crooked and wrong, assuming they break through at all. When this happens, most of us will need oral surgery just to get them the heck out of our mouths.
Tooth Loss
An option available through jaw surgery that many people may not consider is tooth replacement with dental implants. These are often used as an alternative to dentures and bridges, especially when the patient wants a more uniform and natural look to replace teeth that are missing. To be a candidate, you must have adequate bone levels and density in the jaw, proven to not be prone to infection, and must continue to maintain good oral hygiene. The implants are used as tooth root substitutes that are anchored in place during surgery into the jawbone. These will act to stabilize the artificial teeth that will be attached to them later.
TMJ Disorders
Temporomandibular joint disorders involve the small joint in front of the ear where the skull and lower jaw meet. For most patients with this disorder, this can cause headaches and facial pain, and is usually treated with a combination of medications, splints and physical therapy. In advanced cases, however, facial surgery may be necessary to correct the joint problems.
Facial Injuries
After car accidents and other tragic events that may result in injuries like broken jaws and broken facial bones, the only hope for repair is facial or jaw surgery. Bones are wired back together, jaws realigned, and any other repair work done to insure the restoration of normal activity once healing is over.
Biopsy
Cancerous lesions and tumors are not often found in the jaws or the bones of the face, but when they are, an oral maxillofacial surgery can be done to remove them. This most often done when the tumors or lesions are found in and around the joints of the jaw, or in the connecting muscles and tendons.
Cleft Repairs
Another birth defect that can be corrected through this surgery are cleft repairs. These will usually take the form of either a cleft lip or a cleft palate, and occur when the nasal cavity and portions of the mouth do not grow together properly when the child is in the womb. When this happens, the result is a gap in either the lip or a split in the palate found in the roof of the mouth. These conditions can be corrected through a series of operations and cosmetic treatments over a period of years.
Advances in surgical techniques, especially reconstruction and restoration, have led to jaw surgery being able to correct a host of birth defects and accident damage, without a high level of future problems or scarring. Even the fit of dentures and some cases of sleep apnea can be cured with a little corrective surgery today, and most insurance companies will cover it without questions.
