Oral Surgery

Occasionally, a child will need oral surgery. There are a few reasons why this might be the case. Your child may need oral surgery if he or she:

• was born with extra teeth 
• experiences unusual growth
• has an infection in his mouth
• was injured while playing a sport 
• experienced oral trauma

One of the most common pediatric oral surgery procedures is tooth extractions. Your dentist may recommend a tooth extraction if your child’s teeth are broken beyond repair, have lost of decay, are impacted, or overcrowded.

Perhaps the most common pediatric tooth extraction is wisdom tooth extraction, a procedure to remove one or more wisdom teeth. 

The surgery can often be done in the dentist’s office. However, if your child has any infections, your dentist will probably delay the procedure until the infection has been treated and cleared.

Before removing your child’s wisdom teeth, the dentist will administer a local anesthetic to numb the area. A general anesthetic can be used to prevent pain and cause your child to sleep through the surgery. Because of the anesthesia, the dentist will probably recommend that your child not have anything to eat or drink after midnight on the night before surgery.

During the procedure, the dentist will open the gum tissue over the tooth and take out any bone covering the tooth. Then the dentist will separate the tissue connecting the tooth to the bone and then remove the wisdom tooth. The dentist may also choose to cut the tooth into smaller pieces to make it easier to remove. After the procedure, your child may receive stitches. These will dissolve over time and the dentist will place a gauze pad over the wound in your child’s mouth to stop any bleeding.