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The healthcare of patients and the treatments they receive from oral surgeons go beyond dental implants and evaluating and extracting wisdom teeth.
Having a medical degree and a dental degree allows an oral surgeon more insight into the connection between systemic disease and oral disease. Referring dentists can feel secure that the oral surgeons they refer can fully diagnosis and manage their patents’ difficult oral conditions.
Our additional training in the diagnosis and management of oral conditions allows us to see patients with a variety of traumatic, auto-immune, infectious, medication related and congenital conditions that manifest as pathology in the oral cavity.
These are some of the ways we can help you find the best treatment for your patients.
Biopsies. We routinely perform incisional and excisional biopsies for diagnosis and management of lesions. These biopsies allow for H&E and Immunofluorescent studies to be performed. While all dentists perform oral cancer screening, my team and I work with the referring dentist to confirm a diagnosis. We diagnose about a dozen squamous cell carcinomas annually.
Treatment of Infections. Fortunately, most oral infections are managed in a straightforward way with empiric antibiotic treatment. Sometimes, when the infection does not respond in a typical manner or the patient is immune compromised, further treatment is required. Oral surgeons are able to perform intraoral and extraoral incision and drainage, as well as order IV antibiotic treatment.
Soft Tissue Grafting. We offer a variety of soft tissue grafts for root coverage, providing additional attached tissue, preprosthetic surgery or esthetic indications. While most of our soft tissue procedures are related to implant treatment, the same techniques are utilized for teeth.
Imaging. We have a CBCT which can be very useful for evaluation of oral pathology, failed or symptomatic endodontically treated teeth and evaluation of MRONJ. We will work with referring dentists to use this technology on their patients for imaging only (with no exam).
Anesthesia. We offer IV sedation and general anesthesia for procedures. While we are happy to provide anesthesia to address the fear and anxiety of patients who need a surgical procedure, not all patients are appropriate candidates for office-based anesthesia services. Patients need to be relatively healthy, not morbidly obese, have good exercise tolerance and have a good airway.
Crown Lengthening. We are often asked to help evaluate a tooth to see if it should be removed and replaced with an implant, or salvaged with caries removal, crown lengthening, endo and crown fabrication. An implant is usually the preferred choice, if the endo has already been performed and been successful, a patient will choose salvaging the tooth.
Dentoalveolar trauma. While major trauma is not treated in the office, many cases of dentoalveolar trauma are. We offer a range of services, including reduction and stabilization of traumatized teeth, as well as the repair of soft tissue lacerations.
Dr. David W. Todd, DMD, MD, has been active in his profession. He has authored 18 articles in various publications and made numerous presentations at state, regional, and national meetings. For Dr. Todd’s full bio click here.
