We accept Washington & Idaho Patients
What is Oral Surgery?
Oral surgery refers to any surgical procedure involving the teeth or the soft tissues of the mouth. Some oral surgeries are cosmetic and others are for dental or oral health purposes. Oral surgeries range from minor to complex depending on the needs of the patient.
Benefits of Oral Surgery
There are many benefits of oral surgery:
Improve appearance. Many oral surgeries can improve your smile by correcting imperfections and giving you confidence.
Improve dental health. Surgical procedures like extracting wisdom teeth or severely decayed teeth can prevent dental problems.
Improve gum health. Oral surgery can make your gums healthier and less susceptible to gum disease.
Procedures Offered
Gum grafting. When the gum tissue recedes, or pulls away from the teeth due to gum disease or other reasons, a gum grafting procedure can replace the lost gum tissue. Tissue is taken from another place in the mouth and applied to the teeth.
Soft tissue recontouring. In some cases there is excess gum tissue covering the teeth, giving you a gummy smile or an increased risk of gum disease. Soft tissue recontouring removes the excess gum tissue to expose more of the teeth. It is also used to prepare a tooth to receive a crown if there isn’t enough tooth material available.
Frenectomy. The frenulum is the connective tissue that attaches your lips to your gums and your tongue to the bottom of your mouth. In some cases this tissue is too tight, causing a gap to form between your front teeth. It can also affect dentures, causing them to slip out of place. A frenectomy is a surgical procedure that loosens or removes this piece of tissue to allow free movement of the tongue and lips.
Tooth extraction. Tooth extraction is not always considered to be oral surgery. But when a wisdom tooth is impacted or a tooth is difficult to remove, it may require surgery.
Dental implants. Dental implant placement is a type of oral surgery because it involves opening the gum tissue to access the bone underneath.
Wisdom Tooth Impactions
Wisdom tooth impaction is probably the most common reason for tooth extraction. Many people’s mouths are not large enough to accommodate wisdom teeth. Further, wisdom teeth often come in at strange angles and present a real risk of impaction. A tooth that is said to be impacted is a tooth that runs into another structure in the mouth before it is able to fully emerge from the gum line. Impaction presents a real risk for infection and other oral maladies.
Wisdom teeth are typically removed in the late teens or early twenties because there is a greater chance that the tooth’s roots have not fully formed and the bone surrounding the teeth is less dense. These two factors can make extractions easier, as well as making the recovery time much shorter. Inability to keep wisdom teeth clean is also a reason to have your wisdom teeth removed.
Wisdom teeth extractions at Apex Sleep Dentistry are done by our professional dentist and staff in a sterile environment where we make sure you are comfortable and taken care of. We offer General Anesthesia to make your treatment relaxed and free from stress. Our staff is happy and willing to answer all concerns that you may have.
Whether your wisdom teeth are simple extractions, or impacted and need surgical removal, Apex Sleep Dentistry will take care of you using the appropriate anesthetic and the greatest care for your comfort.
Frequently Asked Questions
In some cases your dentist may need to use stitches after an oral surgery procedure. Oral stitches eventually dissolve or come out on their own once the tissue heals, so you don’t have to go back to the dentist to have them removed.
After having a tooth extracted, a blood clot forms in the socket while the gum tissue heals. If this blood clot becomes dislodged or breaks down in some way, it can cause discomfort in the area, called a dry socket. Contact us if you have severe pain or bleeding from the socket so that we can provide the necessary treatment.
It depends on the reason for the surgery. If the surgery is being done for cosmetic purposes, it most likely will not be covered. But if there is a dental or oral health reason for the surgery, your dental insurance may cover it according to the terms of your plan. We provide a variety of payment options as well as financing to make the cost more affordable.
Why Choose Apex Sleep Dentistry
Depending on the complexity, many oral surgery procedures require sedation. Apex Sleep Dentistry specializes in this, providing a general anesthesia to help you relax and breeze right through your procedure.
