Oral Surgery and Correcting Your Jaw

Corrective jaw oral surgery is a common procedure used to address problems or irregularities with the jaw or teeth. Performed by an oral surgeon, it can be an effective way to improve both your health and your appearance. Not all dentists perform the procedure, so if you have any of the symptoms below, we encourage you to schedule an exam and consultation with our dental office.

Corrective jaw surgery is often performed when these signs are present:

• Difficulty chewing
• Facial imbalance
• Injury to the face or jaw
• An open or severely misaligned jaw
• Soreness or pain in the jaw, face, or neck
• Unnatural wear on the teeth
• Birth defects
• Sleep apnea
• Chronic mouth breathing

If you have any of these issues, you may need oral surgery to correct them. Whether or not you do will depend on how uncomfortable they make you and what we find during your examination. We use modern solutions and advanced dental technology to promote minimally invasive procedures, so if you qualify for any of them, we will let you know. Our goal is to provide you with the solution you need, in the least invasive manner possible.

Working With Your Dentist

As an oral surgeon, many of our patients come to us from other local dentists or orthodontists. While they do a wonderful job keeping teeth healthy or straightening them, they are typically not an expert in surgery where we are. Visiting our office for a surgical procedure does not mean that you will no longer see your favorite dentist. They will continue to spearhead your overall treatment, while we will focus on this narrow aspect of it. The same is true when working with local orthodontist offices. They continue to straighten teeth using braces or aligners, but patients come to us at some point during the total treatment to have surgery complete. We take the team approach because that is what will give you the best possible results.

Recovering From Oral Surgery

Jaw surgery is a surgery just like any other. There will be a set recovery period where you will need to be careful. What you eat, how you eat, and even how you move your jaw will be impacted for several days. Give yourself time to heal by taking a few days off work or planning your surgery around a holiday or preset vacation. You will want to take it easy physically, eat soft foods, and not yell or aggressively move your jaw. We will keep an eye on you during your recovery period by having you come in for checkups. Slowly, you will be able to eat everything again, and then you can benefit from improved health and appearance. If you are working with an orthodontist, once the jaw surgery is complete, they are likely to want to put the braces back on so they can continue forward with your treatment plan.

To find out if you are a candidate for oral surgery or to learn more about the process, call and schedule a consultation.

High-Tech and Beauty Merge in Dental Implants

Dental implants are considered to be the most scientifically modern and essentially natural way of replacing teeth that have been lost. Many people of all ages suffer from tooth loss. In younger folks, this lost tooth typically happens because of an accident, during sports, or some other activity. For older folks, tooth loss is a more gradual process as age and often, disease take their toll on the mouth, eventually costing the person their teeth. The challenge is that nobody should have to live with lost teeth, and with dental implants, nobody will. Losing your teeth may sound more innocuous than it actually is. When you lose your teeth, the very first thing you lose with them is your sense of self. Lost teeth make people more self-conscious and unwilling to smile as much. Then you discover how hard it is to eat all but the softest of foods without teeth. Sooner or later, your gums will harden and you can gum all kinds of food, but it is not quite the same. Finally, language enunciation and pronunciation depends on teeth. These are drastically affected by tooth loss as well. Dental implants are the solution to this kind of tooth loss; here is more information about them.

When you get a dental implant placed, you are getting a two-part system. The first part is what you see on top of the tooth. This is also called a dental crown. Dental crowns are often placed without a dental implant to replace damaged or broken enamel on natural teeth. This is because dental crowns look and feel like a natural tooth, so they blend in with your other teeth. Made of porcelain, they are extremely long-lasting, so you do not have to keep getting replacements. The dental crown is placed on the dental implant and attached to it using an abutment. The dental implants themselves are tiny cone-shaped objects screwed directly into your jawbone for maximum stability. The flat surface is where the abutment is used to attach the dental crown. With dental implants, once they are placed, you no longer have to worry about them falling out, having to clean them some special way, or using attachment devices to replace them. Just like your natural teeth, they are there to stay.

The most important thing about dental implants, other than their permanence, is the fact that you do not have to worry about taking them out or other hassles associated with dentures and bridges. Cleaning them is a breeze, too. All you have to do is clean your teeth and mouth the same way you would clean your natural teeth. Brushing twice per day, rinsing after meals, using mouthwash, and flossing are all ways to make sure the dental crown on the top of your dental implants looks great and that the gums are also kept healthy. Remember, the porcelain crown and the titanium dental implants cannot sustain diseases or decay, but the mouth around them can.

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