Oral Surgery

When a tooth has extensive decay, is fractured beyond repair, had trauma to it, or is badly infected, we may suggest removing it and replacing it with a prosthetic tooth to maintain function. Wisdom teeth are also known as the third molars. They are the most common teeth extracted since they often come in crooked or there is not room for them.

Dr. Maria Bustamante at Seven Star Dental in Cincinnati does most extractions in her office. If a tooth is impacted, often called unerupted, it may require more of a surgical extraction. In some of those more involved cases, we would refer you to a local oral surgeon whom we work closely with.

Another area of oral surgery is dental implants. There are two parts to the dental implant process. The first is the surgical stage, where the implant fixture — which looks like a titanium screw — is placed into the bone for a few months. Then, it is uncovered and restored with a crown.

Bone grafts or soft tissue grafts are typically done to restore bone height, thickness or integrity in a specific spot. When a tooth is pulled out, the bone in that area starts to resorb — or deteriorate — because the roots of the teeth that were causing stimulation to that tissue when chewing are gone. When that stimulation is lost, the body begins to leach the calcium from the jaw to use elsewhere. If it is an area where we are considering placing an implant, we will want to make sure the height and density of the bone will be enough to support it. Because of that, we might want to place bone grafting materials to preserve the ridge so there is plenty of bone left in the future.

Give Dr. Bustamante in Cincinnati a call at Seven Star Dental if you are considering an extraction, bone graft or an implant!