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Tooth Extractions and Oral& Maxillofacial Surgery

A dental extraction is the removal of teeth from the dental socket in the alveolar bone. Extractions are performed for a wide variety of reasons, but most commonly to remove teeth which have become un-restorable through tooth decay, periodontal disease or dental trauma; especially when they are associated with toothache.

Sometimes wisdom teeth are stuck and unable to grow normally into the mouth, and may cause repeated gum infections (pericoronitis). We may recommend removing wisdom teeth before they are fully developed (normally in the adolescent years) to help eliminate potential problems.

You may also develop an impacted tooth that has surfaced and has no room in the mouth to grow. Other problems associated with impacted teeth include infection, decay of adjacent teeth, bite interference and gum disease.

Extractions of some permanent teeth that have not erupted (such as the canines, which are also known as fangs or eye teeth) may be required in order to make space for orthodontic treatment.

Types of extractions

Extracting teeth is normally relatively straightforward and can usually be performed quickly while you are awake.

Simple extractions are performed on teeth that are visible in the mouth and most are usually done under a local anaesthetic.

Surgical extractions involve teeth that cannot easily be seen or reached in the mouth, either because they have broken off at the gum line or they have not fully erupted. Surgical extractions require some type of surgical procedure, such as bone removal, removing and/or lifting and folding back all or part of the gum tissue to expose the tooth, or breaking the tooth into pieces (called tooth sectioning). Surgical extractions can be done with local anaesthetic and/or conscious sedation. Patients with special medical conditions and young children may require general anaesthesia, and will be referred to a specialist for a general anaesthetic procedure.

“Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery is the specialty of dentistry which includes the diagnosis, surgical and adjunctive treatment of diseases, injuries and defects involving both the functional and aesthetic aspects of the hard and soft tissues of the oral and maxillofacial region.”

Simply, that means they are trained to do just about any surgery or cosmetic procedure to correct just about any kind of problem with the mouth, jaws, facial structures and neck. We do everything from correcting cleft palates to rebuilding jaws, cheeks, noses, eye sockets and foreheads damaged in accidents. We remove complex tumors as well as impacted and nonrecoverable wisdom teeth. We also do other complex dental extractions. We do bone grafts and dental implants to restore jaws.