3 Reasons You May Need Oral Surgery
Some dental problems cannot be solved without oral surgery. The severity of the issue or the failure of other non-surgical treatment methods mandates that you undergo oral surgery to treat the problem and save yourself from further medical and dental complications.
In some cases, minor oral surgeries can be easily performed by your dentist, but when it comes to some major issues, your dentist will refer you to an oral maxillofacial surgeon who will make a proper diagnosis of your unique dental condition and advise you about the surgery that will treat the disorder or disease.
The 3 reasons you may need oral surgery are:
Oral Cancer
Oral or mouth cancer is common amongst smokers. It is the overgrowth of mutated cells in your oral cavities that can affect the tongue, lips, inner cheeks, and throat. The cancerous cells form clusters that look like lumps. These extra cells take up all the nutrition that is meant for the normal cells and thereby lead to the slow degeneration of your body.
If the cancer is benign and in its early stages, it can be removed through oral surgery. But since this surgery will either involve removing a part of an affected organ, tissues, or muscles, reconstructive surgery is needed to restore the shape and features of the patient’s face.
Jaw Misalignment
The misalignment in your jaw can lead to bad bites. There are several conditions that can make jaw surgery necessary. For example, when a person’s lower jaw is bigger than their upper jaw, it results in a condition known as an underbite. The lower front teeth overlap with the upper frontal teeth and make biting and chewing food difficult. Similarly, when a person’s upper jaw is bigger than the lower jaw, it results in a condition known as an overbite, where the upper front teeth overlap the lower frontal teeth.
Moreover, when a person’s jaw bone is small, it results in the overcrowding of teeth, and when a person’s jawbones are big, it results in the spacing of teeth. To treat these conditions, jaw surgery is required to change the shape and size of the jaws and to ensure that the person has a proper occlusion, meaning the upper jaw sits perfectly on the lower jaw.
Wisdom Tooth Extraction
Minor surgery is also required in case a wisdom tooth needs to be pulled out. Wisdom teeth usually erupt between the ages of 17 to 25. Normally, the wisdom teeth erupt and develop without any major dental problems and align themselves with other permanent teeth behind the second molars.
But for some patients, the eruption and development of wisdom teeth can be a painful and inconvenient process. When the wisdom tooth erupts, it pushes the other adjacent teeth out of their proper alignment. To get the teeth back in their alignment, the surgeon extracts the wisdom tooth by surgically removing the gum tissues around the tooth to loosen it and then pulling it out with forceps.
At Oral and Facial Surgery Center, Dr. Kennedy and Dr. Ardoin provide the best oral surgeries that are tailored to your specific dental needs. Please call us at 337-443-2533 for our Lafayette location or 337-381-3663 for our Opelousas location to schedule your appointment.