Dental Surgery For Better Oral Health

We brush our teeth properly, floss regularly and always have a handy mouthwash, just in case. But sometimes dental problems still find its way to bother us and our way of life. Fortunately, there are dental surgery procedures to remedy these problems.

Perhaps the most common disease is tooth decay, but unfortunately, it is also often neglected. Unless we already feel pain from the toothache, the visit to the dentist is frequently shrugged off. It is only when the pain is almost unbearable that we consider tooth extraction seriously. Tooth extraction is a dental procedure which removes a tooth from the bone socket. Teeth that need to be extracted are not only those which have cavities and are engulfed by caries. There are those who have their teeth removed for aesthetic reasons, such as unsightly extra tooth or for making extra space, especially for those who are getting braces. Sometimes, the growth of wisdom teeth proves to be worrying, especially if it is crowding the teeth, is impacted, or is causing pain to the gums.

Root canal is another dental surgery procedure done by dentists. Root canal eliminates the infection from the diseased tooth, and shields the decontaminated tooth from future microbial incursion. It is usually recommended early on to prevent a cracked or decayed tooth from getting infection. The process involves the tooth being drilled, cleaned, filled (with endofile and rubber), and capped with a crown. The tooth is basically ‘dead’ because it has no more organic tissue inside, but the bone remains intact.

Both tooth extraction and root canal are done with the help of anesthesia to numb the area of the tooth to be processed. This can either be through local anesthesia (makes a particular part of the body unable to feel sensation for a period of time) or through IV sedation (induces the patient to a state of deep relaxation, feeling nothing while the procedure is going on, and causes partial or total memory loss of the procedure). The healing process depends on the difficulty of the process (for example, a tooth that has been more difficult to extract often takes more time to heal). The dentists should prescribe non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) and other painkiller to aid in suppressing the swelling and the pain post-procedure.

These procedures will leave patients with missing or incomplete tooth that are rather unpleasant to the eyes. It’s a good thing there is another dental surgery procedure we can avail to have our perfect smile back: by having crowns or bridges. Both are types of dental restoration. Crowns cover a dental implant completely while bridges are employed to substitute a missing tooth by bonding to adjacent teeth or dental implants permanently. Both can be created from a variety of materials including gold and porcelain. These can be proven advantageous and beneficial to the dental health and overall aesthetic appearance. However, they are relatively expensive because of the materials and the procedure itself.

Post Author: Violet

Violet Rae Murphy: Violet, a biotech analyst, covers advances in health technology, biotech innovations, and the future of personalized medicine.