Dynamic Dental’s doctors are comprehensive providers, offering not just general dentistry and cosmetic dentistry but also oral surgery. We prefer to be your sole providers of dental and surgical treatments because we have formed a relationship with you and enjoy being involved in every aspect of your treatments, be they routine or surgical. When you face oral surgery, you already grapple with anxiety; why heighten that by sending you to a new doctor? Dynamic Dental offers the following oral surgery procedures to ensure that your mouth is whole and healthy.
We are committed to saving your teeth, but sometimes this is impossible. Extractions take place when a tooth is so diseased that it is beyond repair, when a tooth is impacted or functionless, or when tooth movement requires more space in your mouth. Significantly diseased/damaged teeth must be removed so that your dentist is able to start fresh with a restoration, as there is not enough of the tooth’s surface remaining to bond with a structure. Impacted teeth erupt at painful, uneven, or impractical angles, and will not work with the patient’s bite. Functionless teeth like wisdom teeth can cause many problems (they are hotbeds for decay and infection, they often come in at protruding angles) and serve no purpose. And if you are considering orthodontics but there is no space for your teeth to shift, a tooth will be extracted to make straightening a possibility.
An extraction could be a single tooth or multiple teeth, depending on your personal case. Depending on your sensitivity and preference, as well as your Dynamic dentist’s opinion, anesthesia could range from local anesthesia to general anesthesia. You have the option of remaining conscious or being completely sedated for your procedure. Your dentist will communicate with you throughout this determination process to put you at ease and familiarize you with the procedure.
During the extraction, gum around the tooth may be cut to reveal the tooth (this is especially true for wisdom teeth). Your Sacramento oral surgeon will lift your tooth from the gums, and close the area with sutures (stitches) if necessary. We generally use soluble sutures, which dissolve on their own following an extraction.
Post-surgery, you need to be taken home by a friend or family member because you cannot drive under anesthesia. You will need to recuperate for several days, and the extraction site will likely bleed. Change gauze to drain the area and keep it clean; if bleeding persists past 24 hours, contact us. While resting, prop up your head to help stop the bleeding. Use ice packs, prescribed medication, or over the counter medication to soothe pain, and clean the site as your dentist advised.
Recommended post-extraction foods include those you can consume without chewing, so as not to cause discomfort or disrupt your extraction sites, including:
When eating and drinking, do not use a straw, as the force of sucking can loosen stitches and delay blood clotting (as does smoking). If you have any questions or concerns, or feel greater discomfort than you feel is normal, don’t hesitate to call your Sacramento dentist.
After a tooth is removed, you must negotiate with the empty space. Wisdom teeth do not need to be replaced with anything, as the space at the back of your mouth will not change. But if another space is left unfilled, the jawbone will degenerate and lead to shifting teeth. Your Sacramento CA dentist doesn’t want you to experience problems speaking or chewing due to an extraction. Consider a dental implant or a dental bridge. Your Sacramento dentist will consult with you on which solution could be best for your mouth, and lay out a potential treatment plan. Follow through with post-extraction appointments to manage your extraction site responsibly. Your Dynamic Dental team is always here to help and support you!
Crown lengthening is a way to avoid resorting to an extraction to restore a decayed tooth. This procedure reshapes the gum line to lengthen the portion of exposed tooth. By lowering the gum line, your dentist creates the necessary space onto which a crown may be bonded. Similarly, if a tooth breaks below the gum line, crown lengthening allows your dentist to expose and work with that tooth. If your teeth are healthy but you have aesthetic smile concerns, crown lengthening can lower gums to reduce a gummy smile.
Most patients hear “frenectomy” and balk, but frenulum is actually just a piece of tissue that prevents an organ from moving. The frenula is concerned with attach the upper lips to the gums, and the tongue to the bottom of your mouth. If a frenulum in your mouth is too short or thick, you could experience abnormal speech patterns and misaligned teeth. When infants have shortened frenula, they struggle to breastfeed. Your dentist steps in when a frenulum causes problems with movement, growth, speech, or anything related to physical development.
A frenectomy is simply a minor, quick surgical procedure to correct that problem. Performed with a scalpel or laser, a frenectomy takes no more than 15 minutes. With Dynamic Dental’s laser frenectomy, there is little bleeding, no stitches, less patient discomfort and a shorter healing period. Adults will receive local anesthesia for the procedures. The patient will feel very comfortable throughout the process and revel in their newfound tongue movement. We do not perform this procedure for babies or small children.
We have enough nightmares about losing our teeth – the last thing one wants is to go through each day feeling his or her teeth moving around in the jaw. The sensation of a loose tooth that should be solidly seated is unnerving and uncomfortable, especially when chewing. Wondering why your teeth feel this way? Teeth loosen due to receding gum tissue, injury, orthodontics, or consistent pressure from tooth misalignment.
You don’t need to spend any more time feeling anxious about your loose teeth, or waiting for them to fall out and become a significant problem. Your dentist uses periodontal splinting to attach weak teeth to one another, creating a single, stable unit. Typically performed on front teeth, periodontal splinting strengthens your teeth by uniting them as one. Composite material splints loose teeth to stable ones invisibly and comfortably. Periodontal splinting is a newer procedure, but gaining popularity from its success.
Endodontics is the dental specialty concerned with tooth pulp and nerves. The major endodontic procedure is the infamous root canal. Though a root canal is endodontic and technically not oral surgery, many people consider it to be a surgical procedure so we have placed it on our Oral Surgery page!
When a tooth nerve becomes infected, it must be removed before it becomes an abscess and leads to bone loss. A root canal removes infected tooth pulp to heal the tooth and soothe the patient. Although root canals’ reputation precedes them, modern root canals are actually no more painful than getting a cavity filled (and similar in nature). Instead of removing tooth surface, a root canal removes the inside of the tooth via a tiny opening. Local anesthetic will numb the patient and render the procedure painless. The space will be filled with a sealant to prevent further infection. Your dentist will likely recommend that the tooth be fitted for a crown, as this makes the root canal a much likelier success.
You will need to be taken home by a prearranged driver after the procedure due to the anesthesia. The extraction site may bleed, and should be covered with gauze. Refrain from lying flat to keep from aggravating the bleeding. Take pain medication and cover the area with an ice pack to relieve discomfort.
You will be sore for several days following your procedure, and should take care when chewing so as not to irritate the area or disrupt the (potential) temporary crown. You will take an antibiotic to treat any remaining infection. If pain increases or persists more than a few days, call Dynamic Dental.
Recommended post-root canal foods include those you can consume without chewing, so as not to cause discomfort or disrupt your tooth site, including:
When drinking or eating, do not use a straw, as the sucking motion can dislodge your stitches and increase bleeding.
Though you will experience initial soreness, after the recovery period you will enjoy a lack of sensitivity and pain in the treated teeth! Enjoy returning to hold and cold foods and normal chewing.
Most teeth that have received a root canal last as long as natural teeth; root canals performed by endodontists enjoy a 95% success rate. Yet it is a possibility that a root canal may fail, and the tooth refuse to heal. This may happen soon after treatment, or many years later. If infected canals went unnoticed during the first procedure, or the tooth was somehow contaminated post-procedure, your tooth may need to be retreated. This will involve a repeat of the root canal process.
