Oral Surgery
Let’s talk about Oral Surgery?
According to the Portuguese Dental Association, Oral Surgery is the area of Dentistry dedicated to the diagnosis and surgical treatment of diseases, injuries and anomalies of the teeth, mouth, jaws and attached structures.
Some examples of treatments in Oral Surgery are the placement of dental implants or tooth extraction.
Prof. António Duarte Mata
Dr Catarina Martinho
Dr Diana Bernardo de Macedo
Dr. Hugo Madeira
Dr Rita Bernardes Nascimento
Oral health or dental aesthetics?
The goal of Oral Surgery is the treatment of oral diseases, but it can also serve the purpose of dental aesthetics.
From the point of view of Oral Health, you can remove tumors, drain abscesses, extract impacted teeth, or do a bone graft, for example.
Aesthetically, treatments related to gum harmonization are essentially performed.
Shall we “pull a tooth”?
The most common act in oral surgery is tooth extraction. Some cases are quite simple, but in more complex cases it is possible to use local anesthesia.
Regardless of the complexity of the case, Dentists always try to cause as little trauma as possible, so that the post-operative period is less painful and with fewer symptoms.
The Total Fixed Prosthesis
In cases of total or severe tooth loss, it is necessary to replace the entire dentition. Thus, instead of placing dental implants for each lost tooth, the most appropriate solution is total fixed prostheses.
Depending on bone availability, 4 or more implants are placed per dental arch to support a fixed total prosthesis, usually consisting of 12 teeth.
About 1 day elapses between the surgery and the placement of the provisional fixed prosthesis, and this is the maximum period that, as a rule, the patient remains without teeth. The provisional fixed total prosthesis is screwed to the respective dental implants, where it remains for about 6 months.
Finally, the definitive rehabilitation occurs when the provisional fixed total prosthesis is replaced by a definitive fixed total prosthesis. This type of oral rehabilitation is fixed and stable, approximating the aesthetics of natural teeth.