Surgical procedures

A surgical pocket reduction surgery involves reshaping of the bony defects around teeth, under local anesthesia. Gingival recontouring is often needed to ensure proper gingival adaptation. By eliminating a deep pocket around a tooth, the harmful bacteria no longer have an adequate environment for survival, and periodontal bone loss can no longer progress.

Sometimes, a regenerative approach may be used to reduce pockets during surgery. In that case, a bone graft and a collagen membrane can be placed under the gum, around the tooth, to create a favorable environment for bone regeneration and healing, again, leading to pocket elimination and periodontal heath.

Soft tissue grafting can be performed to correct a gingival recession or even to thicken gingiva in an edentulous site, or around a tooth or dental implant.

During a soft tissue grafting procedure, local anesthesia is performed, and a small layer of gingiva is removed from the roof of your mouth, and placed on the gum where it is needed, with sutures. It is sometimes possible to not use your palatal tissue for the graft, but rather use a tissue that comes from another human donor, a cadaver. The objectives of a soft tissue grafting procedure are to decrease tooth sensitivity, cover an exposed root, facilitate oral hygiene, increase comfort and improve esthetics.

It is possible for a tooth to stay partially stuck inside your gum or bone, and not fully erupt naturally inside your mouth. It may be the case for any teeth in your mouth, for supernumerary teeth, or often even wisdom teeth.

Under local anesthesia, it is possible to properly expose these impacted teeth in order to facilitate their eruption into place.

A frenum is a small muscular tissue attachment that connects the tongue, lip or cheek to the neighboring structures inside your mouth. For various reasons, these attachments may be large and need to be sectioned or repositioned in a more adequate location. Under local anesthesia, these small muscle fibers are sectioned and sutures are placed to secure the tissue in the appropriate position.

It is possible for a soft or hard tissue lesion to be noted in your mouth, jaw, or maxillofacial area. A proper examination is essential to establish if a removal of the lesion is needed. If a partial or complete removal is required, local anesthesia is administered and the lesion is removed. The specimen is sent for histo-pathological analyses to establish the correct diagnosis. Many oral or cutaneous conditions can affect the mouth or the maxilla-facial area. It is important to obtain an adequate diagnosis and follow up on these lesions if necessary.

Wisdom teeth, also known as third molars, are the last teeth in the arch and because there is commonly a lack of space in the jaw for their eruption, they are often either partially or fully impacted in the jaw bone. As a result, they often will develop problems such a gum disease, caries, bone loss or resorption on the adjacent second molar, dental crowding, and/or cysts or tumors around them. Long term studies demonstrate that over 80% of patients will eventually need to have their wisdom teeth removed in their lifetime. As a result, we recommend a consultation with an oral and maxillofacial surgeon between the ages of 15-25, prior to the development of disease or pain to assess if the wisdom teeth require removal. Removal at this age is much simpler resulting in a quicker recovery and lower risk of issues during the healing process.

Tumors, cysts or other types of infection may be present in your mouth or jaw causing you swelling, discomfort, or unpleasing esthetics. These lesions may need surgical removal. It may be appropriate to use a 3D scan to better evaluate these lesions and to determine what type of surgical treatment is needed.