When you have an issue too complex to be treated with a filling or crown, such a tooth loss, wisdom tooth eruption, or weakened jawbones, then you may need oral surgery. Our team has experience in providing minor and complex oral surgeries in-house. In today’s blog, your North Hollywood, CA, dentist talks about our in-house oral surgery procedures and how we help your smile!
Tooth loss is often the last choice for many individuals, and saving your smile is a priority. While you may be taking steps to protect your smile at home, there are circumstances in which an oral structure can become infected and, if permitted to progress, ultimately beyond saving. At times it is important to recognize that your oral health is a top priority, and although it may seem counterintuitive, sometimes saving your smile means extracting a tooth to do so. At Modern Smiles in North Hollywood, California, our goal is to preserve your grin and help you protect it from harm, and this means recognizing that there are some circumstances in which extracting it is the best option.
Many people have heard of wisdom teeth, and though they often develop without any problems, they’re more often recognized for the troubles they can cause as they try to develop. These usually stem from one or more wisdom teeth becoming impacted, which not only impedes their eruption, but also puts your other teeth at risk for numerous concerns. Today, we examine what it means when wisdom teeth become worrisome, and what you can do to alleviate the pain and problems they can cause if they do.
Wisdom teeth, which are more formally known as third molars, are the last of your permanent teeth to develop. By the time they do (usually between the ages of 18-25), the dental ridges often have little room left to accommodate them. This can lead to the molars becoming stuck, or impacted, and in some cases, this can force the molar to change its direction. When it’s no longer vertical, the molar’s growth pattern can point it towards or away from the molar already present, causing damage to the tooth and/or the jawbone structure around the third molar.
The problems that can arise from an impacted wisdom tooth depend on numerous factors, including the specific direction the third molar has changed to. However, in many cases, increasingly worse discomfort and more complicated oral health concerns are common symptoms of the impaction. For many people, the only way to address or prevent these concerns is to extract the impacted wisdom tooth or teeth before they have a chance to continue harming their oral health. The sooner the teeth are extracted, the greater chance you’ll have of avoiding the need for more extensive treatment to restore your smile.
Not everyone develops wisdom teeth, and not everyone who does develops problems because of them. However, many people can keep a close eye on their wisdom tooth development by maintaining a strict schedule of dental exams with their dentist. If appropriate, your dentist may suggest extracting the wisdom teeth before they have a chance to cause significant problems due to impaction, helping you prevent several types of subsequent oral health concerns.
When wisdom teeth don’t develop or erupt properly, they can lead to several different oral health concerns. To learn more, schedule a consultation by calling Modern Smile in North Hollywood, CA, today at 818-763-9353. We also proudly serve patients who live in Burbank, Toluca Lake, and all surrounding communities.
For most types of teeth, extraction isn’t a go-to choice for addressing their concerns. Once the tooth is extracted, it’s gone for good, and this can have a negative impact on every aspect of your oral health. However, when third molars (which are often referred to as wisdom teeth) become impacted, extracting them is typically the only real solution. Impacted wisdom teeth can lead to a wide range of problems with your oral health, including increasingly more severe discomfort and risks to your other teeth. Yet, that doesn’t always make it easy to know when it’s time to extract a wisdom tooth, or all of them, until the effects of their impaction become severe.
Wisdom tooth impaction describes a specific type of problem, but the specifics of it can differ from everyone. It occurs when a third molar doesn’t have the room it needs to fully and properly erupt from your gum line at the ends of your dental ridges. This can force the molar to butt up against the existing molar, or the jawbone structure of your dental ridge, and force its position and direction of growth to change. This can be a simple shift toward a diagonal path, or a complete turn into a horizontal position, depending on the severity.
When a third molar first becomes impacted within your dental ridge, the problem might not be obvious at first. A small portion of it may erupt, making you believe that the rest of it will follow without any problem. Or, none of it may erupt, and you remain unaware of its presence until the discomfort in your dental ridges becomes obvious. When this occurs, you should always take the discomfort seriously, as well as the potential risk of it being caused by an impacted third molar. The longer the problem persists without being addressed, the greater the damage the impacted tooth can cause to the bone structure in your dental ridge.
Depending on the specifics of your wisdom tooth impaction, you might not notice pain in your dental ridge at first. However, you might notice that your other molars and teeth have begun to feel crowded or shift out alignment. The molars that are closest to the impacted wisdom teeth may also begin to exhibit damage to their structures due to the pressure of the impacted molar pushing against them. If this persists, then restoring your smile could require one or more restorative dental treatments after your impacted wisdom teeth are successfully extracted.
Wisdom teeth can become a serious problem when they become impacted, but you might not always recognize when it’s time to extract them. To learn more, schedule a consultation by calling Modern Smile in North Hollywood, CA, today at 818-763-9353. We also proudly serve patients who live in Burbank, Toluca Lake, and all surrounding communities.
We offer our North Hollywood, CA, patients an array of treatment options, from cosmetic whitening to lifelike dental restorations. However, sometimes our patients need oral surgery to combat serious health issues, such as wisdom teeth or implant placement. In today’s blog, we’re going to look at scenarios that call for oral surgery and discuss the steps we take to ensure patients feel comfortable throughout the procedure.
Wisdom teeth are most widely recognized for the trouble that they cause. Despite their seemingly harmless name, wisdom teeth (more formally known as third molars) often have trouble developing and erupting properly. They can cause a host of problems such as intense discomfort, damage to other teeth, forced tooth misalignment, and extensive damage to your gums and jawbone. For patients in North Hollywood, CA, wisdom tooth extraction is an important and common procedure that involves removing troublesome third molars to stop them from causing more damage to your smile.
Wisdom teeth are the unofficial name for your third set of molars – a set of teeth that experts say we don’t really need anymore. Our ancestors, who had larger jawbones and dental ridges, used the extra biting and chewing power to survive off of raw vegetation and less tender meat. Now, however, our diets are kinder and our oral structures have adapted, which leaves little room on your dental ridge for the wisdom teeth to grow in.
The minimal space they have to grow and develop is the reason why wisdom teeth become so problematic. Your second set of molars that are already at the ends of your dental ridges can interrupt your wisdom teeth’s growth, which causes your third molars to become impacted. Your wisdom teeth will continue to grow against those teeth, causing increasingly dental health issues.
Most patients opt to have their wisdom teeth extracted because of the problems they cause. However, some patients choose to extract theirs before the extra molars start to cause problems. Fortunately, you don’t need your wisdom teeth too bite and chew your properly anymore. Therefore, extracting them won’t have any negative impact on your long-term oral health or bite function and you won’t have to replace them after extraction.
The most important thing to remember about wisdom teeth is that extracting them could be the best thing you do for your long-term oral health. For more information, schedule a consultation by calling Modern Smile in North Hollywood, CA, today at 818-763-9353. We also proudly serve patients who live in Burbank, Toluca Lake, and all surrounding communities.
While not everyone will need oral surgery in their lifetime, many patients do, and the need can arise from a wide variety of different concerns. In many cases, patients typically have to visit a separate office to receive the treatment they need. However, at our office, we offer a range of oral surgery procedures in-office so you can improve your smile and oral health much more conveniently. Today, we examine a few common times when oral surgery is necessary, and how we can make your treatment more comfortable and convenient by performing it in-house.
Gum contouring is a minor oral surgery procedure that involves trimming away excessive gum tissues to correct a gummy smile. In addition to performing the surgery in-house, we also perform it using the advanced, specially calibrated Epic X laser. The laser produces significantly more precise results and a more comfortable procedure and healing process.
An impacted wisdom tooth is a third molar that has become obstructed before it can completely erupt from your gums and jawbone. Unlike typical tooth extraction, removing the wisdom tooth involves surgically accessing it from within your jawbone, which we can usually accomplish in just a single visit.
Dental implant placement is a common surgical procedure that involves placing one or more dental implant posts into your jawbone. The posts are then used to support a dental crown, bridge, or denture, depending on how many teeth you’ve lost. If your jawbone has grown weak, then we can also perform bone grafting to strengthen it before your dental implant placement.
With a wide range of expertise and an array of advanced dental health technology, we can perform many common oral surgery procedures in-house for your convenience. To learn more, schedule a consultation by calling Modern Smile in North Hollywood, CA, today at 818-763-9353. We also proudly serve patients who live in Burbank, Toluca Lake, and all surrounding communities.
