Oral Surgery

What is oral surgery?

Oral surgery is the area of dental medicine that encompasses a variety of procedures, with the most common being tooth extraction or exodontia. The Lisbon Smile Clinic has a team of qualified dentists with extensive experience to carry out these and other more specialized interventions.

The Lisbon Smile Clinic is equipped with the SiroLaser by Sirona, which allows for performing various surgeries with greater comfort and improved post-operative recovery for the patient.
Laser technology has been used in dental medicine for about 50 years, and since then, it has evolved significantly, enabling multiple applications in the medical field. Oral surgery is no exception. The use of diode lasers offers several advantages over conventional techniques, such as the absence of vibration, improved hemostasis, and a lower risk of bacterial contamination in the operating field.

Scope of Oral Surgery

Its field of action is very broad, including the extraction of impacted teeth, particularly wisdom teeth, or the extraction of teeth present in the dental arch, endodontic surgery (when root canal treatment is not sufficient to address the lesion of the tooth), periodontal surgery, surgery for cystic or tumoral pathology, pre-prosthetic surgery (surgery to prepare the mouth for the placement of a dental prosthesis), and surgery for infectious or traumatic lesions.

Impacted Teeth

An impacted tooth is a developmental and eruption alteration where a tooth remains within the jawbone (mucosa or bone) beyond the normal eruption period, usually due to lack of space. The most commonly impacted teeth are the third molars or wisdom teeth, especially the lower ones.
The diagnosis of an impacted tooth requires an imaging examination, such as an X-ray, as determined by the dentist.

Wisdom teeth can sometimes be partially impacted, erupting partially with a portion of the tooth covered by gum tissue. In these cases, although the diagnosis is immediate, an X-ray is necessary if extraction is indicated.

Evaluation and Need for Wisdom Tooth Extraction

Many times, our clients ask if it is always necessary to extract the wisdom teeth, and the answer is no. Your dentist will evaluate each case individually, considering different clinical criteria.

Wisdom teeth that remain semi-impacted are usually recommended for extraction if a condition called pericoronitis occurs. Pericoronitis is an acute inflammation of the tissues surrounding the partially erupted tooth, causing intense and sharp pain that alleviates with antibiotic therapy but recurs quickly.

Frequently Asked Questions

A frenectomy is a surgical procedure to reduce the size of the frenulum of the upper and lower lips or the tongue. Frenula are anatomical structures, a type of mucosal fold located either beneath the tongue or between the upper and lower lips and the teeth.

This minor surgery, with a quick recovery, may be necessary in the following situations:

If the upper lip frenulum is too extensive, creating spaces between the incisors that do not close with growth or orthodontics.
If the lower lip frenulum inserts too close to the lower incisors, potentially causing gingival recessions (loss of gum tissue) in these teeth.
If the tongue frenulum is too short, restricting the natural movement of the tongue, which may lead to changes in the shape of the jaws because the tongue is in an incorrect, lower position. Speech and phonology alterations can also arise, and children may even require speech therapy to retrain the tongue, in addition to the frenectomy.

All surgical procedures are traumatic in themselves, but they can be minimized. With the evolution of dental medicine, we can say that the discomfort associated with any clinical act is minimal.

The surgical procedure includes several stages, starting with obtaining the patient’s medical history, diagnosis, and proper planning of the intervention, followed by an appropriate anesthetic technique and atraumatic surgical technique, and later the adoption of an effective postoperative therapy. These procedures will ensure high comfort during and after the surgical act.

Post-operative care is crucial to minimize the aftereffects of the surgery and promote healing while minimizing discomfort.

On the day of surgery, you will be given a document with all the information, which will also be explained by your dentist.

In summary, the care to be taken includes the following:

Apply ice to the face over the operated area for the first 24 to 48 hours, in alternating periods of five to ten minutes. The ice should be placed in a plastic bag and wrapped in a cloth to avoid skin burns.
Avoid sun exposure, hot and hard foods, and physical exertion until the stitches are removed.
The diet should be soft, liquid, and cold for the first 24 to 48 hours.
Rest and sleep with your head elevated, for example, use 2 pillows and avoid sleeping on the operated side.
Brush your teeth and tongue normally. For the surgical area, brush carefully with a surgical brush (very soft) after the first 24 hours.
Rinse lightly 2 to 3 times a day with an antiseptic for one minute, starting 24 hours after surgery.
Do not smoke during the first 24 to 48 hours.
Strictly follow the medication prescribed by your dentist.
8 to 15 days after surgery, you will need to return to the clinic to have the stitches removed, if applicable.