Why You Should Consider Visiting an Oral Surgeon

Many people consider oral surgery to be a drastic step and are often alarmed when their dentist suggests that they need to meet with and get treated by an oral surgeon. The reality is, there are numerous issues that cannot be dealt with by your regular dentist. When you have a condition like TMJ, impacted teeth, facial pain, or any number of other problems, you will need to get oral surgery. Oral surgeons even treat things like tumors from oral cancer and can also perform cosmetic facial surgery to improve the appearance of your smile. With the wide range of conditions that are corrected with oral surgery, you should not be alarmed or concerned if your dentist wants to refer you to an oral surgeon to deal with a particular issue.

Oral surgery is often a confusing term for patients, who look at everything in layman’s terms. For example, what is the difference between getting a root canal and having to remove your impacted wisdom teeth, other than the fact that one is done by your dentist and the other requires the services of an oral surgeon? This is exactly the same as in medicine when some simple procedures can be done by your general practice doctor, while other procedures need to be dealt with by a surgeon. The most common oral surgery procedures are removing impacted teeth and getting dental implants placed.

Impacted wisdom teeth are one of the most common problems that adults across the country have to deal with. Impacted wisdom teeth have to be removed using oral surgery. For most adults, their wisdom teeth appear much later than the other teeth. Since these are the third molars, there has to be enough room in the mouth and the jaw to allow the teeth to come in. Unfortunately, most times, the teeth do not have the room to come in straight or completely out of the gum. This is considered impacted and can have a significant and damaging effect on the teeth around the impacted wisdom tooth. Oral surgery can remove the teeth, preventing damage to the surrounding teeth and often relieving pain and swelling.

Another common reason for getting oral surgery is to replace lost or badly damaged teeth with dental implants. Dental implants are an excellent alternative to dentures or bridges for people who have lost their teeth. A tiny titanium screw is placed into the jawbone to act as the support for a fake tooth that is placed above the gum line. The new fake tooth is called a dental crown. Dental implants are extremely successful, very permanent, and last a very long time, but they do require oral surgery to place since they are surgically inserted into the jawbone. Often, people who have suffered bone loss in their jaw must have the bone replaced or augmented with oral surgery.

An oral surgeon is trained and skilled in the use of anesthesia to help make any procedure you get comfortable and as painless as possible.