Dental Surgery

Losing one or more teeth can cause your remaining teeth to shift, rotate, or become crooked, which can lead to an uneven bite and unwanted spaces that will make chewing more painful and dental home care more difficult. If you need to replace one or more teeth, dental implants can help restore your teeth to their natural form and function, making them easier to care for. Dental implants can also be used to help secure dentures into place, preventing them from making clicking noises or rubbing, or they can be used as an alternative to a crown-and-bridge treatment or partial dentures after teeth removal.

The Dental Implant Procedure

To determine if dental implants are right for you, our dental professionals will first examine your mouth, take x-rays, and discuss your dental history, home care, wants, and needs. If you are a good candidate for dental implants, we will place the implant below the gumline, giving the artificial roots enough time to stabilize and reinforce your jawbone to prevent further bone loss. Once the artificial roots have been given enough time to take hold, we will attach the replacement tooth crown to the implant above the gumline and provide you with care instructions for your new implant.

Implant stabilized dentures feature attachments that clip onto implants that have been inserted into the jawbone to keep them in place, unlike regular dentures which sit on top of your gums. The two different types of implant stabilized dentures you can choose from are:

Ball-Retained Dentures

Also known as stud-attachment dentures, ball-retained dentures have ball-shaped attachments that fit onto an implant’s metal, socket-like attachments.

Bar-Retained Dentures

Requiring two to five implants in the jawbone, ball-retained dentures feature a metal bar that attaches to the implants and curves around the jawbone. Once the bar is in place, the denture is then fitted over the bar and held into place using clips located on the implants, the dentures, or both.

Bridges fill the gap left by missing teeth by attaching to the remaining healthy teeth on either side of the gap. In most cases, the two teeth beside the gap will be shaved down to accommodate the bridge. Caps will then be placed over top of the shaved teeth, followed by the bridge replacement for the missing teeth. Your dentist will help you determine which type of dental bridge will work best for your unique situation, as well as help you understand how to properly care for and clean your bridge.

Patients who feel mild to moderate levels of anxiety or fear at the thought of going to the dentist or during their appointment can benefit from the use of sedation. Depending on the type of dental work or oral surgery being completed during your appointment, our team of dental professionals can provide you with oral sedation (pills) or IV sedation which is monitored by a registered nurse onsite.

Our team will determine which type of sedation will work best for you by:

• Reviewing your medical history—we will thoroughly review your health and current medications to predict any possible interactions and how the drug will be metabolized.
• Considering the length of the oral surgery treatment—we will give you a good idea of the duration of each treatment. In some cases, patients may choose to have multiple treatments completed at once while under sedation.
• Considering the comfort level needed—we will discuss your level of anxiety and fear, past experiences, and what we can provide to help you feel the most comfortable.

Since wisdom teeth mature and erupt into the mouth after the jawbone has fully formed, there usually is not enough room for them, which means that they will put pressure on existing teeth, causing them to shift, while also causing you severe discomfort and pain.

Impacted teeth (teeth that do not come into place correctly) should be removed before they start causing problems, such as:

• Discomfort or pain
• Shifting teeth
• Sore gums
• Face pain
• Jaw pain
• Reduced ability to open mouth
• Infection
• Swelling
• Gum disease
• Bad breath
• Cavities
• Jawbone cysts

Bone grafting is a surgical procedure that uses bone sourced from somewhere else in your body to add bone material to the jawbone to augment depth or width or to add extra support for dental implants or natural teeth after teeth removal surgery. Depending on your situation, your dentist may choose to use animal bone, donated bone, or synthetic bone for the procedure.

Major Bone Grafts

Major bone grafts provide the ideal solution when a large area of the jaw needs to be augmented, as well as for preparing for the placement of many implants after teeth removal. In most cases, major bone grafts involve harvesting bone from either the shin or the hip and then attaching the harvested bone to the jawbone with small titanium screws. Most major bone grafts can be completed six to nine months before the placement of implants and are always performed as an oral surgery under sedation or general anesthesia.

Minor Bone Grafts

If the jawbone only requires a slight augmentation, minor bone grafts tend to be the best solution. Minor bone grafts are most commonly used when only a single tooth needs to be replaced during surgery.

The Pinhole® Surgical Technique is a minimally invasive procedure that can be used to correct gum recession and to save teeth. During Pinhole® surgery, specially designed surgical instruments are used to make a small hole and to gently loosen the gum tissue so that it can be repositioned over top of the receded part of the gumline. Pinhole® surgery does not require any cuts or stitches, so patients can expect minimal post-operative symptoms like pain, swelling, or bleeding, as well as easy post-op care. Contact us to learn more about this type of oral surgery procedure.

To allow for a more secure placement of dental implants, your dentist can surgically graft bone onto the sinus to help raise the sinus membrane. This type of oral surgery is performed under sedation or general anesthesia, depending on your unique situation and needs. Contact us today to learn more about sinus lift surgery.