Dentoalveolar surgery refers to any treatment we provide to deal with problems of the teeth, gum, jawbone and other bony or soft tissues in the mouth. Alveolar bone is the bone supporting the teeth.
What surgical procedures do we offer?
We provide a number of surgical procedures to help solve your dentoalveolar issues. These include:
- Removal of teeth or retained tooth roots – Most often teeth can be removed with dental forceps. However sometimes this is not possible because of deterioration of the crown of the tooth, the length or shape of the root of the tooth or the density of the bone. In these situations it may be necessary to raise some gum tissue off the bone, and remove a small amount of bone so that the tooth or root can be removed safely. At the end of surgery the surgical site is closed with dissolvable sutures.
- Aids to orthodontics – A common procedure is surgery to expose the crown of an unerupted or impacted tooth. This is carried out to allow the orthodontist to retrieve the tooth into the correct position with an orthodontic appliance. The most commonly exposed teeth are impacted upper canines. Orthodontists often ask us to extract teeth so that crowding can be orthodontically relieved. Supernumerary (extra) teeth can occur and most often require removal. It is sometimes necessary to remove an enlarged labial fraenum (the web of tissue between the upper lip and the upper gum in the midline).
- Removal of cysts or other lesions – A cyst is a fluid-filled sack within the bone or soft tissue. It grows by expansion and usually required removal. Tumors (most commonly benign) can occur in the jaws and these require removal.
- Aid to root canal treatment – Following root filling of a tooth by a dentist or endodontist, it is sometimes necessary to carry out the surgical removal of the end of the root of the tooth (Apicectomy). Sometimes it is necessary to retrograde root fill the tooth at the same time.
- Oral pathology – We provide biopsy and surgical removal of abnormal tissue. Any tissue removed is submitted to a pathologist for histological examination and reporting.
- Aids to fitting of partial/complete dentures – Sometimes it is necessary to carry out surgery so that dentures can be worn comfortably. This may include the removal of soft tissue and bony lumps on the gum, or recontouring the jaw bone.