Surgical Orthodontics Lancaster
Setting Your Smile on the Right Path
While modern orthodontics can certainly achieve some amazing changes when it comes to correcting crooked, crowded, and gapped teeth, sometimes surgical intervention is required. Working closely with a patient’s orthodontist, our Conestoga Oral Surgery team can provide specialized procedures designed to achieve tooth movements that aren’t possible with traditional braces or clear aligners. We can ensure that a patient is able to achieve the improved aesthetics and ideal function they deserve by assisting many of our trusted orthodontists in Lancaster and throughout Central Pennsylvania.
Why Choose Conestoga Oral Surgery for Surgical Orthodontics?
Elective Jaw Surgery (Orthognathic Surgery)
Past traumatic injuries, skeletal anatomy, and severe malocclusion (overbite, underbite, or asymmetric bite) can all lead to the need for corrective jaw surgery. These malformations can not only result in chronic pain, but they can also make it difficult to do basic daily tasks such as eating and speaking, as well as impact your oral health and overall appearance. Our experienced team of oral surgeons can assist you and your orthodontist with digital surgical planning and an excellent final outcome. While many oral surgeons do not perform this life-changing surgery anymore, we feel it is so important to utilize our surgical skills to bring about positive changes when traditional braces alone are not enough.
Selective Extraction of Teeth for Crowding
There are times when teeth are too crowded for an orthodontist to perfectly align the upper or lower arches. In this case, your orthodontist may have you see an oral surgeon to remove specific teeth to make room during your orthodontic journey. Removing these crowded teeth will allow for easier shifting to perfect your smile.
Exposure and Bonding of Impacted/Malposed Teeth
As teeth erupt in the mouth, some teeth can get blocked out and, therefore, remain impacted in the jaw. Rather than extract these teeth, an orthodontist will often ask an oral surgeon to assist with guiding the tooth into its correct position. While this most often occurs with canines, any tooth can be susceptible. The surgeon will attach a bracket and chain to the impacted tooth. This device allows the orthodontist to guide the tooth into its correct position over time. The surgery is relatively quick and there is minimal recovery time.
TADs (Temporary Anchorage Devices) and SADs (Skeletal Anchorage Devices)
Sometimes, a stubborn tooth may not be moved by braces or clear aligners alone due to the angle/severity of the misalignment. A TAD involves placing a small, surgical screw into the jawbone near the tooth (after numbing the area) and using applied forces to guide the tooth into a more favorable position. A SAD is a larger plate that is placed in a similar fashion and assists your orthodontist with getting the malposed tooth into the correct position. Once orthodontics are completed, the screws are removed quickly and easily.
Frenectomies
A frenectomy is a surgical treatment that is used to address lip and tongue-ties, typically in young children or those undergoing orthodontics. This is caused by an overly thick or long piece of tissue (called a frenum) that attaches the lips to the gums or the tongue to the floor of the mouth. As a result, a child may experience difficulty nursing and bottle feeding, food aversion, and speech impediments, and it can also interfere with the teeth position and alignment. Our oral surgeons can quickly address this concern with a relatively simple procedure called a frenectomy, which can be performed using local anesthesia or general anesthesia.
Surgical Uprighting and Repositioning of Teeth
During development in the early teens, the second molars can grow at an angle, causing them to become trapped under the teeth in front of them. When planned at the appropriate age, the molar can be carefully uprighted and placed in a more favorable position for natural eruption into the mouth. If left malpositioned, the tooth can cause infection, decay of neighboring teeth, or root resorption. Your orthodontist will refer you to an oral surgeon for this procedure when the time is right.