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You might get oral and maxillofacial surgery for many common reasons, from dental implants to treating tumors or cysts in the jaw. Besides, oral surgery solves your cosmetic or reconstructive needs as well.
Other reasons that may force you to visit an oral and maxillofacial surgeon include wisdom teeth issues, facial pain or TMJ/TMD, misaligned jaw, cancer in the face, jaw, or neck area, etc.
If you are facing any of these issues, book an appointment with your regular dentist or a dentist near you.
While most people won’t have trouble with their wisdom teeth, these are often removed during (@oralsurgery ) oral surgery to prevent more serious issues like an abscess.
Wisdom teeth usually start to surface during a person’s late teen years and into their early 20s. They often begin to make an impact as they begin to emerge, growing sideways into the neighboring teeth or angled forward. Partially erupted teeth may present other issues as these teeth are difficult to care for and clean.
Extractions are ordinarily handled by an oral surgeon dentist on an outpatient basis. Most tooth extractions are part of preventative measures to safeguard against changes in the alignment of the teeth during orthodontics or more severe difficulties.
Advanced oral surgery is often performed when the patient is young because the tooth roots have not yet been set in the jawbone. After the teeth are anchored, extraction has been proven more difficult and requires a longer recovery time.
While performing a simple extraction, the dentist or oral surgeon will apply a local anesthetic. Doing so will numb the area but will not render the patient unconscious.
Then, the target tooth will be uplifted using an elevator and removed from the patient’s mouth with forceps. The dentist will perform this process gently to not break the tooth during extraction. This type of removal is done for those patients whose teeth have erupted already.
The dentist may supply an IV anesthetic, which will help the patient relax yet remain conscious. The oral surgeon will then make a surgical incision to expedite the tooth extraction.
Often, the tooth will be sectioned to handle the extraction. This type of surgery is performed for those patients whose teeth have not yet erupted or who have additional issues like large or curved roots.
Your encounter with oral surgery will vary based on how complex the extraction performed is.
The entire process will take around 20-40 minutes for single tooth extraction. If you have other teeth to extract, the time will automatically be increased by 3-15 minutes per tooth.
The procedures involved in the oral surgery are not painful due to the fact that the periodontist numbs the area using anesthesia.
Your oral surgeon will recommend you rest at least 48-72 hours after the treatment, as this will allow clotting in the treated area. After that, a patient should be able to perform normal physical activity. The soft tissues will automatically heal within 3-4 weeks after oral surgery.
After oral surgery, patients should avoid tough or crunchy foods like pizza, rice, popcorn, hamburgers, and even spicy and acidic foods. However, after seven days, they may resume their normal diet.
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