Dental Surgery

If you have lost one or more teeth, your remaining teeth may shift, rotate, or become crooked, giving you an uneven bite and unwanted spaces that can make chewing food more painful and home dental health care more difficult. Whether you need to replace one tooth or a whole jaw, dental implant surgery is designed to help restore teeth to their natural form and function. Dental implants can also help secure dentures in place, preventing them from rubbing and making clicking noises, or your surgeon may recommend them as an alternative to partial dentures or a crown-and-bridge treatment.

The Dental Implant Treatment

1. Your dentist will examine your mouth, take x-rays, and discuss your dental history, wants, and needs to determine if implant oral surgery is right for you.
2. If you are a candidate for dental implant surgery, we will place the dental implant below the gumline.
3. Once the implant is in place, the artificial roots are then given enough time to stabilize, reinforcing your jawbone to prevent further bone loss.
4. Finally, we will attach a replacement tooth crown above the gumline to the implant and we will go over home health care steps with you.

Implant stabilized dentures (unlike regular dentures which sit on top of your gums) use attachments to clip onto implants that have been inserted into the jawbone to keep them firmly in place. There are two different types of implant stabilized dentures you can choose from:

Ball-Retained Dentures

Ball-retained dentures, also known as stud-attachment dentures, feature ball-shaped attachments that are specifically designed to fit onto the implants’ metal socket-like attachments.

Bar-Retained Dentures

Bar-retained dentures require between two to five implants in the jawbone and feature a metal bar that attaches to all of the implants and curves around the jawbone. The denture is then fitted over the bar. For this type of implant stabilized denture, the implants, dentures, or both may have attachments on them to help clip everything together.

If you feel mild to moderate levels of anxiety and fear during your oral surgery appointment or at just the thought of going to the dentist, sedation can be used to reduce your discomfort. Depending on the type of dental work you are having done, our dental surgeons can provide you with nitrous oxide (laughing gas), oral sedation (pills), or IV sedation which is monitored by a registered nurse onsite. For IV Sedation candidates, our office brings in a registered nurse from Lethbridge Dental Services South.

To determine which type of oral sedation will work best for you and your surgeon, our surgery team will:

• Review your medical history—our oral surgery team will thoroughly review your health and current medications to predict any possible interactions and how the drug will be metabolized.
• Consider the length of the treatment—we will give you a good idea of the duration of each treatment. In some cases, patients may choose to have multiple treatments completed at once while under sedation.
• Consider the comfort level needed—we will discuss your level of anxiety and fear, past experiences, and what we can provide to help you feel the most comfortable.

Wisdom teeth mature and erupt into the mouth after the jawbone has fully developed. This means that there usually is not enough room for them and that they will put pressure on existing teeth, causing severe discomfort, pain, and other teeth to shift. Since impacted wisdom teeth (wisdom teeth that do not come into place correctly) can cause discomfort and complications, it is better to have surgery to remove them before they start causing problems.

Impacted wisdom teeth that are left untreated can cause health issues, such as:

• Discomfort or pain
• Shifting teeth
• Sore gums
• Face pain
• Jaw pain
• Reduced ability to open mouth
• Infection
• Swelling
• Gum disease
• Bad breath
• Cavities
• Jawbone cysts

Designed to add bone material to the jawbone to augment width, depth, or to add extra support for natural teeth or for dental implants, bone grafting is a type of oral surgery that uses bone grafting material sourced from bones somewhere else in your body. In some cases, animal bone, donated bone, or synthetic bone can also be used for this surgical treatment option.

Major Bone Grafts

Ideal for when a large area of your jaw needs to be augmented and most commonly used in preparation for the placement of many implants, major bone graft surgery often involves harvesting bone from either the hip or shin. Once the bone has been harvested from the donor site, it is then attached to the jawbone with small titanium screws. In most cases, major bone grafts are completed six to nine months before the placement of implants. Major bone graft services are performed under sedation or general anesthesia.

Minor Bone Grafts

Minor bone graft surgery is used when the jawbone only requires a slight augmentation, such as when only a single tooth needs to be replaced.

As a minimally invasive oral surgery treatment, the Pinhole® Surgical Technique can be used to help correct gum recession and to save teeth. By using a needle to make a small hole, specially designed instruments can be used to gently loosen the gum tissue and reposition it over top of the receded part of the gumline. Since Pinhole® surgery does not require any cuts or stitches, patients can expect to care for minimal post-operative symptoms such as swelling, pain, and bleeding.

Bone can be surgically grafted onto the sinus to help raise the sinus membrane, allowing your dental surgeon to more securely place your dental implants.