Minor Oral Surgical Procedures

Minor Oral Surgical Procedures

One of the main goals of modern dentistry is the prevention of tooth loss. All possible measures should be taken to preserve and maintain your teeth because the loss of a single tooth can have a major impact upon your dental health and appearance. However, it is still sometimes necessary to remove a tooth. Here are some of the reasons a tooth may need to be extracted.

• Severe Decay
• Advanced periodontal disease
• Infection or abscess
• Orthodontic correction
• Malpositioned teeth
• Fractured teeth or roots
• Impacted teeth

If you've just had a tooth extracted or your dentist has recommended that a tooth be extracted, the following information will help you get through the first few days after your extraction. Should anything occur that seems out of the normal, do not hesitate to call your dentist.

Wisdom Teeth:

Wisdom teeth, or third molars, are the last teeth to develop and appear in the mouth. They are called "wisdom teeth" because they usually appear during a person's late teens or early twenties, which has been called the "age of wisdom" The normal position of wisdom teeth is behind the upper and lower second, or 12-year molars. Many times the jaws are not large enough to accommodate the four wisdom teeth. This is why wisdom teeth cause more problems than any other teeth in the mouth. In fact, for nine out of ten people at least one wisdom tooth remains underneath the gum due to lack of space in the mouth.

Impacted Wisdom Teeth!

When a wisdom tooth is blocked from erupting or coming into the mouth normally, it is termed "impacted". A tooth may be only partially impacted, meaning it grows in crooked and breaks through the gum only partially, or it may fail to break through at all and thus remains totally impacted. Serious problems can develop from partially impacted teeth, such as pain, infection, and crowding of, or damage to, adjacent teeth. For totally impacted teeth, more serious problems can occur if the sac that surrounds the impacted tooth fills with fluid and enlarges to form a cyst. This enlargement can hollow out the jaw and result in permanent damage to the adjacent teeth, jawbone and nerves. If the cyst is not treated, a tumor may develop from the walls of the cyst and a more involved surgical procedure may be required for removal. Many problems with wisdom teeth can occur with few or no symptoms, so there can be damage without your knowing it. It is important to know that as wisdom teeth develop, their roots become longer and the jawbone more dense. Thus, as a person grows older, it becomes more difficult to remove wisdom teeth and complications can become more severe. In addition, as people age there is an increased chance of the symptoms mentioned above. For these reasons, the dental or oral surgeon may recommend the removal of wisdom teeth even if they are not yet causing obvious problems, particularly for young adults.

Impacted wisdom teeth often grow at an awkward angle making their removal more difficult. As a person grows older the tooth becomes longer and the jawbone denser. Partially or fully impacted wisdom teeth are more likely to pose serious problems in older individuals.

Impacted Second & Third Molars: Right Lower Jaw

Bilateral Lower Jaw: Canine Impaction & Upper & Lower Jaws: Third Molar Impactions