Monday, August 24, 2015

Conditions That Can Be Treated With Our Oral Surgery

Oral SurgeryMany dental conditions can easily be treated with oral surgery. Modern oral surgery is faster and safer than ever before. Now, you can undergo oral surgery without any lingering side effects and with a fast recovery time. If you need oral surgery for any reason, don't put it off. Oral surgery can benefit your teeth and your gums, providing you with a better overall oral health. Below are a few of the conditions we frequently treat with oral surgery. For a full list, visit our office.

Wisdom Teeth

Many people have the need for wisdom teeth removal. Wisdom teeth are a set of molars, called third molars, that are normally the last to develop and the most unnecessary. Normally, developing wisdom teeth only cause more problems for patients because most jaws are not large enough to contain them, and other teeth become harmed or crowded due to the new growth.

When wisdom teeth begin to emerge, more often than not, they cause alignment issues or fail to erupt through the gums correctly. When this happens, wisdom teeth can become trapped between the jawbone and gum tissue, causing irritation and swelling. If wisdom teeth are left in this position, an infection can occur and can lead to tooth loss and permanent gum or jaw damage. Wisdom teeth removal is one of the most common oral surgery procedures we and many other oral surgeons perform, with over five million people having wisdom teeth removed every year.

Dental Implants

Dental implants are another common reason for oral surgery. If you have missing teeth, dental implants are the most permanent and long-lasting replacement option you can receive. A dental implant is a fabricated tooth root structure surgically implanted into your jawbone. The material these implants are made up of is titanium, which can actually fuse with your jawbone to create a permanency similar to a natural tooth root, if not stronger. Once a dental implant becomes fully fused with your bone after oral surgery, a realistic, tooth-colored prosthetic tooth will be placed on the implant device to fill in the area where your tooth had been and to provide functionality for eating and speaking.

Periodontal Disease Treatment

There are several forms of oral surgery performed to treat periodontal disease. Periodontal disease, also known as severe gum disease, is infection and bacteria under your gum line. When periodontal disease is left untreated, it becomes worse and can kill off healthy gums and teeth. There are nonsurgical periodontal disease treatments that should be considered before oral surgery. If the need for oral surgery arises, we can perform soft tissue and bone grafts, flap surgery to reduce periodontal pockets, and even bone surgery to reshape damaged bone to reduce craters.

These are three of the most common oral surgery treatments we perform. In addition to these, we provide a wide array of surgical options to provide a better dental health. All of our surgeries include proper anesthetics to eliminate any form of discomfort and instructions to help you heal quickly and fully following your procedure.

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Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Modern Tooth Replacement: Implant Dentistry

Implant DentistryImplant dentistry has taken the idea of tooth replacement to an entirely new level. We are so confident in what our dental implants can do for you, we have no trouble stating that implant dentistry is changing the entire conversation about tooth loss. You might be asking yourself who exactly has a conversation about tooth loss and implant dentistry. The truth is, not very many people consider the potential that they might need an implant or that they might lose a tooth before they are old. Of course, from an implant dentist perspective, old is relative. In a recent study, it was found that 69 percent of people over the age of 35 have lost at least one tooth and are in need of implant dentistry. Thirty-five is not old by any means, and certainly not old enough to live with tooth loss. Nobody should live with tooth loss in today's day and age. Tooth loss can be quite a devastating event in the lives of people who have to deal with it.

We rely on our teeth for a vast number of things, which is why implant dentistry is so critical to restoring lost teeth. We use our teeth to start the digestive process by chewing our foods. We also use our teeth to enunciate words, which are critical to our ability to communicate clearly and concisely. Believe it or not, your teeth play a very prominent role in your social skills as well, something most people do not realize until they are embarrassed to smile because of a lost tooth. Implant dentistry has taken an ancient art, completely modernized it, and has given you a reason to smile. When we say that implant dentistry is an ancient art, we mean it is more of a science that developed. Ancient Mayans would hammer pieces of bone or shell into patients' gums to replace lost teeth. Luckily, we have long since moved on from the hammer. Today's implants are made of space-age material and placed with revolutionary methods.

The primary material used in the manufacturing of dental implants is titanium, also used by NASA to manufacture spacecraft and other objects that have to withstand tough environments. This makes your implants extremely durable, since titanium is one of the hardest and strongest substances known to man. In addition to being strong, the way we place the implants plays a critical role in supporting the jaw bone. Often, when you lose a tooth, the jawbone loses a critical support structure in the root. The root provides stimulation to the jawbone, which in turn translates to the body as a reason to support the bone itself. When the stimulation stops, the body will stop supporting the jaw, and more often than not, this will result in bone density loss. The implants we place recreate the stimulation of the natural root, bringing back the support for the bone and ensuring its viability.

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