Types of Oral Surgery

The list below is not exhaustive but provides examples of common oral surgical procedures:

Wisdom Tooth Extraction

This is one of the most common oral surgery procedures. Due to the position of the third molars (wisdom teeth) in many people they do not fully emerge into the mouth but can become impacted against the next molar or against the bone of the jaw.

When problems occur and the decision is taken to surgically remove a third molar, your oral surgeon will have very carefully assessed the benefits and deficits of the treatment and you will be fully informed of these. Because of the proximity of other structures such as nerves, there is a small chance of damage to these during the surgical procedure. One of the most important factors to try and limit the risk of these negative outcomes is for your surgeon to be as clear as possible exactly where your tooth is in relation to these other structures.

Apicectomy

This is where the root tip of a tooth is surgically exposed and removed. Often this treatment is provided when a conventional root filling has failed and for various reasons it is thought better to try and treat the root tip directly.

Once the root tip has been removed, any associated infection is also cleaned away and often a special root filling is placed into the root canal at the tip. This is called a retrograde root filling.

Surgical Cyst Removal

Cysts are hollow fluid filled swellings. They can develop in the jaws for various reasons but one of the most common reasons is due to a long term chronic infection around the end of a tooth with a dead nerve. This type of cyst is called a radicular cyst.

When cysts are surgically removed, it is vital that all remnants of the cyst are successfully cleared away to prevent possible recurrence.