Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery specializes in diagnosing diseases of dental and oral structures and surrounding tissues and administering the necessary medical and surgical procedures. Treatments may be performed on the craniomaxillofacial complex include: wisdom tooth and unerupted tooth extraction, management of oral and maxillofacial infections, mandibular fractures, biopsy and surgical treatment of soft tissue cysts and tumours of the oral cavity, dental implant surgery, sophisticated bone augmentation, maxillary sinus elevation surgery, root tip resection and pre-prosthetic surgery procedures.

Wisdom tooth extraction: When is it necessary?

Wisdom teeth are the last ones to erupt in your mid-twenties and as they mostly get their development complete after all teeth and they are left not enough room to erupt, they can remain partially or fully impacted. Wisdom teeth that do not erupt into its proper position in the dental arch can damage the dental arch and surrounding soft tissues, can cause tooth decay or gum disease, jaw pain. A dental cyst or abscess may also develop around the wisdom teeth. Therefore, such wisdom teeth should be extracted. However, no extraction is needed for wisdom teeth that have fully erupted through the gum.

What causes jaw cysts? Should they be removed?

A cyst is a sac-like structure of membranous tissue that contains fluid and that may occur in lower or upper jawbone. It may have developmental or dental origin. Cysts of the jaw expand slowly, grow into a considerable size and may cause swelling, pain, teeth swinging or dislocation. Radiographic, clinical and histopathological techniques are used to diagnose jaw cysts. They require surgical treatment since cysts that are not removed may grow in time into considerable size and spread into surrounding tissues. Cysts that are not treated may also cause infection, pain, jaw bone resorption, pathologic fracture of the mandible, numbness or tingling in lips, gums or teeth.

What is apicoectomy? When is it necessary?

Apicoectomy is a surgical procedure where dental cysts or infections at the root tips are removed along with the apical one-third of the root. It is performed to prevent teeth loss and preserve natural teeth. Apicoectomy may be needed to treat the following problems: small cysts in the root tips, root tip infections that cannot be treated with root canal therapy, broken instrument remaining inside a root tip, overflow of root canal filler to outside the root canal and traumatic root tip fractures.

Will I feel pain during the procedure?

As surgical operations are performed under local anaesthesia, patients do not feel pain during tooth extraction, implant treatment or any other procedure. However, general anaesthesia or sedation may also be administered during surgical procedures upon patient’s request or if medically necessary.