What Is Oral Surgery?
Oral surgery, also called maxillofacial surgery, refers to any operation performed on the oral cavity and certain parts of your face to treat and prevent oral disease. It usually involves the removal of certain tissues. Oral surgeries range from the extraction of impacted wisdom teeth, to bone grafting. Dr. Nishime will thoroughly examine your mouth and jaw before your surgery to develop a treatment plan that ensures the success of your surgery and the betterment of your smile.
It’s common that oral surgery tends to overlap with other fields such as general dentistry and implant dentistry, since oral procedures are extremely versatile. Keep reading to learn more about our oral surgery options and how they can benefit you.
Our Oral Surgery Options
Extraction
Tooth extraction is a procedure that removes a tooth from its socket. While no one likes the idea of losing adult teeth, removing teeth that are too damaged to save helps prevent the spread of infection to other areas of your smile, misalignment, and severe pain.
Tooth extraction is not always surgical. With simple extractions, your dentist can remove your tooth without touching your gum line. However, with surgical extraction, small incisions are made in the gums to expose every part of the tooth, so it can be completely removed. Surgical tooth extraction is most commonly used for impacted wisdom teeth, although it can also be used to address teeth with curved roots, as well as cracked and broken teeth.
Implant Dentistry
Dental implants are considered the gold standard among tooth-loss solutions, since they replace the entire tooth from root to crown. Dental implants are small titanium posts that are surgically placed into your jawbone. Once integrated, these posts act like tooth roots and provide stable anchors for your custom-made restorations.
Dental implants are the healthiest, most realistic, long-lasting option for tooth replacement. They’re the best way to prevent tooth-loss related health issues such as jawbone deterioration (resorption), gum disease, and reduced bite force. We can provide restorations in the form of dental crowns to replace a single tooth, bridges for multiple teeth, or even implant-supported dentures for an entire arch.
Bone Grafting
Bone grafting is often necessary when you’ve been missing teeth for a while and have experienced a loss of jawbone density (resorption). In fact, tooth loss that goes untreated for three years or more can lead to a 40 to 60 percent decrease in jawbone density. The lack of bone mass in your jaw can endanger the health of your remaining teeth and drastically lower your chances of implant success.
To boost your oral health and make implant success more likely, Dr. Nishime can perform a bone graft, which involves placing transplanted bone material into your jaw where bone density is lacking. There are four main kinds of bone grafting materials, which can be derived from various sources:
- Allograft materials derived from bone of the same species
- Autogenous material derived from the recipient’s intra-oral or extra-oral site
- Alloplastic materials are exclusively derived from synthetic sources
- Xenografts derived from the inorganic portion of animal bone
Additionally, there are multiple forms of bone grafting Dr. Nishime can perform:
- Standard Bone Graft — A standard bone graft is placed to help stimulate and regenerate lost bone mass.
- Ridge Augmentation – In severe cases of ridge resorption, the bone graft is placed to increase the height/and or width of the ridge, restoring its’ shape.
- Sinus Lift – This procedure involves elevating the sinus membrane and placing the bone graft onto the sinus floor, allowing implants to be placed in the back part of the upper jaw without the risk of piercing the sinuses.
Root Canal Retreatment
While traditional root canal treatment is considered non-surgical, surgical root canals are an option when traditional treatment fails or infection returns. Surgical root canals, also known as endodontic surgery and root canal retreatment, involves Dr. Nishime making an incision into the gums to access the root canals. This helps Dr. Nishime discover fractures and other sources of pain and infection that were missed or returned after initial treatment. With successful root canal retreatment, Dr. Nishime can preserve the work done during the initial root canal procedure, while alleviating pain and preventing the spread of damage at the same time.
Frequently Asked Questions
Oral surgeries are performed out of necessity, so it’s likely that your insurance provider will cover some or all of the cost of your procedure. Dr. Nishime and the rest of the team at Advanced Restorative Dentistry encourage you to call your insurance provider beforehand and ask them about your exact policy. If you’re underinsured or uninsured, we can help alleviate some of your financial burden by offering our in-house membership plan.
After your oral surgery, Dr. Nishime will give you specific guidelines on what you can and can’t eat and drink, as well as for how long you should practice these restrictions until returning to your normal diet. In general, you’ll need to avoid the following foods and drinks for at least one week post oral surgery to ensure healing goes smoothly:
- Crunchy foods
- Brittle foods
- Hard foods
- Spicy foods
- Chewy foods
- Alcohol
- Hot and cold drinks
- Caffeine
- Sugary drinks
Like any surgical procedure, oral surgery usually involves a few side effects. Common side effects of oral surgery include bleeding, soreness, and swelling. However, these symptoms are usually normal, and when your oral surgery is performed by a dental professional like Dr. Nishime they should be easy to treat during the recovery period.
Your Honolulu dentist will give you specific instructions to follow after any oral surgery to ensure healing goes smoothly. In general, common advice to follow includes:
- Avoid foods and drinks that can harm or irritate the surgical site
- Gently rinse with warm salt water after meals or three times a day
- Avoid vigorous rinsing, harsh brushing, and flossing at the surgical site
- Avoid vigorous activity and exercise for 24 hours after the procedure
- Don’t suck on straws as this can dislodge necessary blood clots
- Avoid caffeine, tobacco products, and alcohol
- Stay hydrated and eat nutritious foods
- Attend all of your follow up appointments at Advanced Restorative Dentistry
Be certain to follow all post-oral surgery instructions your Honolulu dentist gives you.
Visit Advanced Restorative Dentistry For Restorative Oral Surgery
Undergoing oral surgery when necessary can help improve and protect your oral health while restoring the look and function of your smile. Advanced Restorative Dentistry offers oral surgery to patients from Honolulu and surrounding areas such Kailua, O‘ahu, and Kapolei, HI. Dr. Nishime offers decades of experience and excels in oral surgeries like implant placement. You can rest assured that your oral surgery will be carried out with the utmost skill and professionalism.
If you think you could benefit from oral surgery or you want to learn more about our oral surgery options, contact our office and schedule an appointment with Dr. Nishime by dialing (808) 732-0291. You can also schedule an appointment by filling out the form at the button of the page one of our friendly team members will get back to you shortly.