Dr Darcy MacLellan Oral Surgery    
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Tooth Extraction
Teeth are generally removed when there is a cavity or fracture that prevents the tooth from being fixed with a filling or root canal. Once the tooth is out, the space can be left empty or the tooth can be replaced by (1) a removable partial denture (2) a bridge or (3) a dental implant. 

Removable denture
A removable denture is usually the most cost effective way to replace one or more missing teeth however the denture itself can sometimes feel bulky and be difficult to adapt to wearing

Bridge
Unlike a removable denture, a bridge is fixed in the mouth and is not removed. A bridge is made up of crowns that are cemented onto the adjacent teeth with a crown fused between them to replace the missing tooth. A bridge is beneficial when the adjacent teeth have large fillings or cracks. A bridge is not possible if there are not teeth on both sides of the tooth that is missing.

Dental Implant
A dental implant is similar to a screw, although the materials and surface modifications are considerably different, that replaces the root portion of a tooth and provides a base for placement of a crown. Dental implants are beneficial in situations where a bridge is not possible or when the adjacent teeth would not benefit from having a bridge (healthy teeth with no fillings or cracks). 

Wisdom Teeth
Wisdom teeth are the last teeth to erupt into the mouth generally in your late teens and early 20s. Unfortunately, because of their late eruption, as well as a number of other factors, there is often not enough room in the back of our mouths for the wisdom teeth to come in properly. Often this creates situations where the wisdom teeth only partially come through the gums or are angled in strange directions. This makes it very difficult to keep the wisdom teeth clean and often leads to inflammation and infections of the surrounding gum tissue, food impaction, cavities, and pain. 

Dental Implants
Dental implants allow a tooth to be replaced without the need to put crowns on the adjacent teeth or wear a bulky removable denture. The implant is placed into the bone where the missing tooth was previously and acts as a base to place a crown on. 

Bone Grafts
Sometimes there is not enough bone where a tooth is missing to place an implant. In order for an implant to heal properly it has to be completely surrounded by bone. In situations where there is not enough bone, a bone graft is necessary. Bone grafts can either be taken from areas of your upper or lower jaws,  from other animals and humans where the bone has been sterilized, or from synthetic sources. Bone grafts often require several months to heal and can either be placed alone or at the same time as a dental implant depending on how much bone is missing.

Exposure of Impacted Teeth
Certain teeth in our mouths have to travel along a fairly long path to erupt into our mouths. Sometimes these teeth can grow in the wrong direction or get stuck against other teeth because there is not enough room for them to come in properly. In these situations, where the tooth is often still below the gums, they can be surgically exposed and moved into the proper position using orthodontic appliances and braces.

Oral Pathology
TMJ Disorders