Surgical dentistry is a branch of dentistry, which purpose is prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disorders, illnesses and lesions in the oral cavity and its adjacent structures.

A surgical dentist usually extracts teeth, including the ones which have been completely or partially impacted, removes alarming lesions on the mucous membranes, sending them to the further histopathological and oncological diagnosis, carries out procedures in tooth root resection, hemisection or radectomy, plastic surgery of alveolar bone, augmentation of bone defects procedure or correction of soft tissue procedure.

More complicated clinical cases require coordinating surgical dentist’s actions with the specialists in the fields of orthognatic surgery, implantology, orthodontics, prosthetics, endodontics or periodontics. In such cases the MALO CLINIC doctors are developing an interdisciplinary treatment plan, which purpose is to achieve patient’s health, comfort and aesthetics.

Surgical procedures usually take place under a local anesthesia, only those of a high level of complexity take place under a general anesthesia.

All procedures in dental surgery require radiology diagnostics. At MALO CLINIC we are in possession of a digital pantomograph – a camera for taking panthomographic photos, and a stomatological computer tomograph, which enables us to conduct a full analysis of the patient’s state and precise planning of the surgical procedure.

Main objectives

 

  • Extractions

A tooth may need to be extracted for many reasons, among others: extensive caries, resorption, vertical fracture of the tooth root, non-healing or reoccurring apical lesion, a need to create additional space in the arch during an orthodontic treatment.

  • Surgical extraction of impacted teeth

Impacted teeth are teeth that for some reasons completely or partially failed to erupt. There might be several reasons for this disorder – one of the most common is a lack of sufficient space in the dental arch. If these teeth won’t be extracted, then the constant pressure put on by them can cause several complications: destruction of the neighboring teeth, inflammation, toothache or dental crowding. This problem is most common for the wisdom teeth, that erupt at the end, but there are also situations, in which the body creates additional (redundant) teeth, for which there is no space in the oral cavity.

  • Treatment of the oral cavity infections

Oral cavity infections are caused by microorganisms such as viruses, bacteria and fungi. The course of some infections is benign and chronic, in most such cases a well-tailored pharmacological treatment is needed; there are however some more severe and rapid infection symptoms, that require an instant surgical intervention (for example an incision of an odontogenic abscess).

  • Eliminating the source of an infection, removal of tumors and cysts

Removal of tumors and cysts are also activities from the field of surgical dentistry. The cause of a cyst can lie in an impacted tooth (cystitis follicularis), the cyst can also be located at the end of a tooth root (cystis radicularis), it can also have to do with a retention cyst – for example of the sublingual gland duct. All dentists, but in particular surgeons, are obliged to the so called oncological vigilance. All non-healing changes, ulcerations or hypertrophic forms should be subjected to a through diagnosis

  • Treatment of tooth deformities and skeletal deformities

Maxillo-facial surgery deals with treating the cranio-facial deformities (orthognathic surgery). In case of the bone deformities, including the orthodontic treatment, activities from this area are directed towards setting up proper relations between the upper and the lower jaw.

  • Diagnosis and treatment of the parotid glands pathologies

Dysfunction of the glands responsible for producing saliva can manifest itself with dryness of the oral cavity (so called xerostomia). The consequence include trouble with eating, speech, intensified caries and discomfort. There are many causes, from infections caused by bacteria and viruses or mechanical obstacles (salivary ducts lithiasis, salivary gland tumors), to systemic diseases (that is the Sjögren syndrome, AIDS, lupus, diabetes), hormonal changes or an influence of some kind of a medication. In order to diagnose the cause of a parotid gland pathology, radiography is most commonly used (traditional X-ray or a computer tomograph), the flow of saliva is studied and the systemic laboratory tests are done.

  • Treating dysfunctions of temporomandibular joint

Localized in the vicinity of an ear, a temporomandibular joint is a connector of the mandible and the skull. Dysfunctions of this joint are often connected to the dysfunctional relation of the upper and lower teeth, which is reflected in an incorrect muscle, ligament and joint activity. Main symptoms are: Headaches, earaches, eye, face and neck pains, as well as problems with chewing and noise symptoms during opening and closing the mouth. The treatment of the temporomandibular joint is based on elimination of the causes of such problems. Most often the treatment process is connected to the orthodontic and/or prosthetic treatment, it can also require an action from the field of implantology or orthognatic surgery.