What is oral surgery?
Dentistry – apart from care for the enamel and gums, drilling, cleansing and whitening – is also surgery (oral surgery). It sounds seriously and that’s what it is. In general, surgery treatments are taken into account in case the use of less invasive methods of treatment are not sufficient. The oral surgery divides into oral surgery in general and maxillofacial surgery. The first one deals mostly with the damage of teeth themselves, treatment of oral cavity and the regions nearby. With major bone loss within facial skeleton a biopsy of bone eg. from tibia or skull cap is performed. In case a bone graft is necessary or a fair section of jaw and mandible is damaged, it is necessary to visit a maxillofacial surgeon.
When should we visit a dentist surgeon?
In case of tooth damage eg. as a result of strong impact, fractured tooth, when a need to remove (extract) a tooth occurs, when the tooth is uncureable and/or it cannot be maintained; it affects mostly more difficult teeth which are “wisdom teeth” – 3rd molars. Another common case is the removal of impacted teeth, that is which did not erupt in the expected period and may cause malocclusion; they affect also the abnormal development of other teeth. These treatments should be considered as most frequently performed in oral surgery, but they are not confined to them only.
The help of a surgeon is also indispensible in case an implant is to be fixed to the cavity of the earlier removed tooth, and simultaneously a part of bone tissue has been lost. The loss may be caused by the need for the dentist to remove eg. the infected tissue wherethrough the bone will lose its natural shape, and there is no possibility to set the implant properly. A treatment which is aimed at reconstruction of the tissue is called augmentation. By insignificant losses, synthetic materials which are set into the empty spaces can be applied.
If our tooth breaks off, eg. as a result of caries, damage, fracture, the surgeon may recommend the lengthening of the clinical crown (teeth). This treatment is not only significant on account of esthetics. The dentist does not not only operate on bones and teeth but also soft tissue. We can also meet the oral surgeon in case of gum recession, that is a process leading to exposure of the sensitive dental root. There are different methods of treatment for this case as well, for instance tissue graft. Other treatments on soft tissue, applied most often in children, include undercutting of frenulum which allows to avoid complications such as diastema, anatomic abnormalities and psellismus. Making an appointment at the surgeon can be necessary if the teeth are covered with abscess or so called parulis (often in case of wisdom teeth eruption). Treatments within dental surgery are performed in the dental office.
