What is Oral Surgery?
Oral surgery includes surgical procedures used to treat problems affecting the teeth, gums, jawbone and surrounding oral tissues. These procedures may be recommended when –
- Tooth cannot be saved
- Wisdom tooth is impacted
- Bone support is insufficient for an implant
- Abnormal oral tissue needs to be examined or removed.
What is Wisdom teeth removal?
Wisdom tooth removal involves extracting third molars that are impacted, painful, infected or causing problems due to their position. The procedure is planned carefully based on the position of the tooth and its roots.
Process in Wisdom teeth removal?
Wisdom tooth removal is a commonly performed surgical procedure. The exact approach depends on the position of the tooth and whether it is impacted.
1. Preparation and Numbing
- X-ray Review to assess the tooth’s position, root shape and nearby structures.
- Anaesthesia is administered to numb the treatment area. Sedation may also be used when planned as part of the procedure.
- Sensation Check to make sure it is adequately numb before the procedure begins.
2. Accessing the Tooth
Gum Incision may be made to access the wisdom tooth, if impacted beneath the gum.
Bone Clearance is done by removing a small amount of bone covering the tooth to expose it.
3. Loosening the Tooth
Tooth Sectioning may be done to divide a tightly positioned tooth into smaller sections to allow safer removal.
Gentle Loosening of the tooth from the surrounding tissues using special dental instruments.
4. Extraction and Cleaning
Removal of the tooth or its sections from the socket.
Irrigation by cleaning the empty socket with sterile saline to remove debris.
5. Closure and Initial Healing
Dissovable stitches may be placed to close the gum tissue where required.
Gauze Pressure through a sterile gauze is placed over the area to help in controlling bleeding and support formation of the blood clot.