Oral Surgery

Damage to the jawbone can occur in areas where there are missing teeth. The jawbone can deteriorate and change the facial structure and make it unsuitable for a dental implant. Luckily, today’s technology can repair the inadequate bone in preparation for dental implants through bone grafting, restoring functionality and esthetic appearance.

While the use of a local anesthetic to prevent pain is sufficient for many dental patients, sedation or general anesthesia may be appropriate to ensure the safe and efficient delivery of dental procedures. Most commonly given by means of an injection or as an inhalant, general anesthesia describes a mixture of potent drugs that are used to induce a sleep-like state. Sedation and general anesthesia are safely and effectively used for thousands of dental procedures each year. 

Depending on the dental procedure, your dentist may determine that you only need a relatively small area to be numbed during surgery so that your visit is comfortable and pain-free. There are two kinds of numbing injections

When performing oral procedures that require numbing, dentists employ two kinds of local anesthesia, block injections, which numbs an entire region of your mouth, such as one side of your lower jaw, and infiltration injections, which numb a smaller area.

When a tooth is extracted, the procedure leaves behind a small hole where the tooth once was. This socket can be very sensitive at first, which is why your provider may recommend socket preservation to go along with your extraction.

A socket or alveolar ridge preservation procedure involves placing a bone graft into the socket, where the tooth once was. The goal of socket preservation is to improve the appearance of the remaining teeth and gums and to make the process of getting a dental implant at a later visit less complicated.

Sometimes trauma, gum disease, cracked or broken teeth, and tooth decay can be too significant, and despite our best efforts to save the tooth, extractions may be the best option. Here at Dental Care of Edmond, we will make the process as comfortable and pain-free as possible.