Oral Surgery

Oral and maxillofacial surgery is a specific branch of dentistry that includes the diagnosis, surgical and related treatment of diseases, injuries and defects involving both the functional and aesthetic aspects of the hard and soft tissues of the head, mouth, teeth, gums, jaws and neck. Oral Surgery involves, but is not limited to: wisdom teeth removal, apicoectomy, TMJ (what does it stand for?) disorder, facial trauma, corrective jaw surgery, oral pathology, dental implants, anaesthesia and bone grafts.

Your dentists at Sunrise Dental Clinic are trained to diagnose and in some cases treat defects, injuries and diseases of the mouth, jaw, teeth, neck, gums and other soft tissues of the head.

Wisdom Tooth Extraction

One of the main goals of modern dentistry is the prevention of tooth loss. All possible measures are taken to preserve and maintain your teeth as the loss of a single tooth can have a major impact upon your dental health and appearance. However, it is still sometimes necessary to remove a tooth.

Here are some of the reasons why a tooth may need to be extracted:

• Severe Decay
• Advanced periodontal (gum) disease
• Infection
• Orthodontic correction
• Malpositioned teeth
• Fractured teeth or roots
• Impacted teeth with a potential future problem

An oral surgeon or your dentist at Sunrise Dental Clinic can assist you with removing (extracting) your wisdom teeth for you. The procedure is done at your dentist’s clinic. If you have any infections, surgery may be delayed and antibiotics will be prescribed until the infection has cleared up.

Before removing a wisdom tooth, your dentist will give you a local anaesthetic to numb the area where the tooth will be removed. A general anaesthetic may be used, especially if several or all of your wisdom teeth will require extraction at the same time. A general anaesthetic prevents pain in the whole body and will cause you to sleep through the procedure. Your dentist will probably recommend that you don’t eat or drink after midnight on the night before surgery, so you are prepared for the anaesthetic if this option is advised.

To remove the wisdom tooth, your dentist will open up the gum tissue over the tooth and take out any bone that is covering the tooth. The dentist will separate the tissue connecting the tooth to the bone and then remove the tooth. Sometimes the dentist will cut the tooth into smaller pieces for ease of extraction.

After the tooth is removed, you may need stitches. Some stitches dissolve over time and some have to be removed after a few days. Your dentist will tell you whether your stitches need to be removed.