Oral Surgery
The London Day Surgery Centre specialises in oral surgery and our dedicated, expert team offer a wide range of surgical procedures including:
- Apicectomies
- Implant Treatments
- Specialist Endodontics
- Wisdom Teeth Removal
- Orthodontic Extractions and Exposures
- Surgical Extractions
At the London Day Surgery Centre we know that you can feel nervous and anxious about oral surgery. It's perfectly natural to feel some apprehension. But at the London Day Surgery Centre we have decades of experience, highly qualified surgeons who undertake 100s of similar procedures each year and the latest state-of-the-art facilities.
Apicectomies
An Apicectomy is a surgical procedure to remove the tip, or end, of the root of a tooth from the jawbone, through an opening made in the gum. At the same time, infected tissue from around the end of the root may be removed to control a disease process or to encourage healing. The following tips will help you feel in control of your recovery:
- 1. After your operation do expect some discomfort, swelling and possibly bruising. This tends to get worse for the first one or two days and then settles, mainly over a week.
- 2. You will have some stitches in your gums. These usually take one to two weeks to dissolve and do not require removal.
- 3. Do not smoke for as long as possible after you operation as the healing takes longer and the long-term success of the procedure may be affected.
- 4. You will be given a prescription for antibiotics after your operation. It is vital that you take the tablets or capsules as prescribed.
- 5. Do a few warm salt-water mouthwashes each day for the first week to help keep the area clean.
Extractions
At the London Day Surgery Centre we can take care of most extractions ranging from the simple to the most complicated. We undertake 100s of extractions each year under local anaesthetic with, or without, intravenous sedation.
Wisdom Teeth
Your wisdom teeth normally emerge from the gum (erupt) between the ages of 17 and 24. They are the last of the large grinding teeth at the back of the mouth to emerge. Some people never develop wisdom teeth; others can have up to four - one in each corner of the mouth.
Often wisdom teeth cause no problems but sometimes there is just not enough space left in the mouth for them to emerge properly. When this happens, they are described as 'Impacted'. Impacted wisdom teeth can cause pain, swelling, infection or damage to the teeth next to them. If the gum around the wisdom tooth is swollen the jaw may become stiff and sore. Infection at the back of the mouth can cause bad breath and a bad taste.
The surgical removal of one or more wisdom teeth can relieve these problems. However, removing the wisdom teeth does not usually improve crookedness or crowding in other teeth.
If you have problems such as infection, cysts or tumours, tooth decay or gum disease around a wisdom tooth you should think about having it removed. If you have impacted wisdom teeth that are not causing problems you do not need to have them removed.
Information about Wisdom Tooth extraction
- 1. After you have had a wisdom tooth removed there will inevitably be some discomfort, swelling and/or bruising. These effects have a tendency to get worse in the first 36-48 hours. After this, things should start to improve gradually, usually over the space of a week.
- 2. If your mouth is very swollen you may find it difficult to open your mouth wide. As the swelling decreases you should gently exercise your jaw and this will get better.
- 3. Currently, all stitches or packs used by our surgeon to assist healing are dissolvable. Your surgeon will let you know if this is not the case.
- 4. Lower wisdom teeth lie just next to nerves that supply feeling to the lip, chin and tongue. Very occasionally there may be some tingling or numbness of the lip, chin or tongue after the operation. If this occurs it usually lasts no more than a few days to, at most a few weeks.
- 5. Smokers have significantly more post-operative pain and often infections, and always take noticeably longer to heal. Please avoid smoking for as long as possible both before and after your operation
