Your Richmond Hill Invisalign® Provider
What is Oral Surgery?
Oral surgery is a category of dental treatments that involves surgery performed on the oral cavity.
Oral surgery procedures treat injuries and defects of the hard and soft tissues of the mouth, teeth and jaws in cases where less invasive treatments are not sufficient. Oral surgery may also be performed in preparation for other dental procedures. For example, we may perform a bone graft to prepare the jaw for dental implant surgery.
While we always use the least invasive treatment option possible for any dental problem, sometimes the more moderate treatment options are simply insufficient for the issue at hand, and oral surgery is required.
Feeling nervous? We can help.
However, this does not mean that you need to feel nervous or worried about your oral surgery procedure!
These feelings are natural, of course, but modern dentistry allows us to perform these kinds of surgeries with a minimum of pain and shorter recovery times than we were able to in the past. We'll do everything we can to make your oral surgery experience as efficient and comfortable for you as possible.
If you need oral surgery to address an oral health problem you are experiencing, your dentist will prepare you ahead of time for what you can expect from the process, sedation options, how to prepare for your appointment, and what recovery will be like. We'll be there for you each step of the way!
Dental Implants
Replace Missing Teeth
Dental implants are replacements for missing teeth. They replace the entire tooth, including the root, which makes them extremely stable and very similar to natural teeth in how they function. The dental implant procedure is considered surgery because the implant is surgically implanted into the jaw bone, eventually fusing with it.
Consider dental implants to replace your missing teeth if you want a stable and durable option that is designed to blend in with your natural teeth.
Gum Grafts
Repair Gum Tissue & Reduce Sensitivity
Gum grafts are performed primarily to repair receding gums. This can help to cover exposed tooth roots and reduce related symptoms, such as sensitivity. But additionally, making efforts to protect exposed roots can also protect them from decay, which in turn can even protect against eventual tooth loss in severe cases.
The gum graft procedure involves removing gum tissue from the roof of the mouth and transplanting it to another area of the gums.
Tooth Extractions
Remove Badly Damaged Teeth
While it is always preferable to save a natural tooth, it is not always possible. Severe tooth decay, impaction, advanced periodontal and gum disease, trauma, or tooth overcrowding are all potential reasons your dentist may recommend a tooth extraction.
While it can be distressing to learn that you you need to have a tooth extracted, you'll likely find that the relief from pain and discomfort that results will make up for it. Plus, there are some great tooth replacement options available to you, including implants as mentioned above, as well as dentures and dental bridges.
Wisdom Tooth Removal
Prevent Misalignment, Impaction & Infection
Wisdom teeth are the last set of molars to emerge in the back corners of an adult's mouth. For most people, these final molars erupt in their late teens or early 20s, years after the other adult teeth have emerged and become established in the mouth. Because of this late eruption, and because of how our jaws have evolved over time, wisdom teeth can often cause a whole host of dental health problems when they finally make their appearance.
Wisdom teeth can be difficult to clean, which can lead to infection, and they can also cause impaction and crowding. In these cases, it is usually recommended to extract them.
Frenectomy
Reduce Gum Issues & Speech Concerns
A frenectomy is a surgical procedure that removes a frenum. The frenum is a small piece of tissue a small fold of tissue that prevents an organ in the body from moving too much. In this context, the frenum connects your cheeks, tongue, or lips to your gums. When the frenum restricts function, as in tongue-tied, lip-tied, or cheek-tied, our dentists may recommend a frenectomy.
Most often, frenectomies are performed on babies who are having feeding issues or if there are speech concerns. But sometimes, adults need frenectomies too. For example, sometimes a frenum can be so tight that it pulls your gums away from your teeth, causing dental problems.
Bone Grafts & Sinus Lifts
Reinforce Jaw Bone & Prepare for Implants
In the context of oral surgery, a bone graft is a procedure in which your dentist adds additional bone tissue from another part of your body, or from a donor or artificial source, to your jawbone to strengthen it. This is done most often to prepare the jawbone for a dental implant, though not all dental implant patients necessarily need a bone graft.
A sinus lift is simply a type of bone graft in which your dentist adds additional bone material to the upper back jaw to increase the amount of bone in the sinus area specifically, again usually in preparation for the placement of a dental implant.