Procedures

Seven areas, drawn in section.

Each plate carries the clinical detail a referring dentist needs and the plain-language version a patient needs. Neither is hidden from the other; the switch in the header only decides which one leads.

Referral line(612) 555-0150

ImagingCBCT and intraoral scanning on site

Fig 01 · Mucosa & flapMandible & IAN canal · Impacted 38

Layers

Plate 01 · 20–60 min · Local · local + IV sedation · GA

Third molar removal

Assessment and removal of impacted and partially erupted third molars, including coronectomy where the root is intimately related to the inferior alveolar canal.

Taking out wisdom teeth that are stuck, coming through crooked, or causing repeated infections — and knowing when it is safer to leave part of a root alone.

Most third molars do not need to come out. The ones that do are usually causing recurrent pericoronitis, distal caries on the second molar, cystic change, or are in the path of planned orthodontics. We would rather review a film with you than remove a tooth that was managing.

9 named risks
6-stage timeline
Classification table
Consent language in full

Read plate 01

Fig 02 · Gingiva & papillaeAlveolar bone · Fixture & abutment

Layers

Plate 02 · 45–90 min per site · Local · local + IV sedation

Dental implants

Single-tooth and partially edentulous implant placement, immediate or delayed, planned from a CBCT against a stated restorative endpoint.

A titanium root placed into the jawbone, which your own dentist later builds a tooth onto. It is two appointments months apart, not one.

We place; you restore. That division only works if the placement is driven by the restoration you intend to make, so we would rather have your plan before we plan ours. An implant put where the bone is, rather than where the tooth should be, is a prosthetic problem for the rest of its life.

7 named risks
6-stage timeline
Classification table
Consent language in full

Read plate 02

Fig 03 · Mucosa & prosthesisAtrophic maxilla · Tilted fixtures & bar

Layers

Plate 03 · 3–5 hours · IV sedation · GA

Full-arch restoration

Fixed full-arch rehabilitation on four to six implants, with tilted posterior fixtures where anatomy allows, and immediate provisionalisation where cross-arch stability permits.

A fixed set of teeth for a whole jaw, held on four to six implants. It is a big decision, it is not reversible, and it needs cleaning every day for the rest of your life.

The graftless tilted-implant concept exists because it lets a patient leave with fixed teeth on the day, in bone that would otherwise have needed a year of augmentation. That is a genuine advance. It is also the procedure most often oversold, so this page spends more words on the limits than on the appeal.

6 named risks
6-stage timeline
Consent language in full

Read plate 03

Fig 04 · Flap & membraneMaxilla & sinus floor · Graft & fixation

Layers

Plate 04 · 45–120 min · Local · local + IV sedation

Bone & soft-tissue grafting

Ridge preservation, guided bone regeneration, lateral-window and transcrestal sinus augmentation, and keratinised-tissue grafting around teeth and implants.

Rebuilding bone or gum where there is not enough of either — usually so an implant can be placed later, and usually months before it.

Grafting is the unglamorous half of implant surgery and it decides most outcomes. The material matters less than the blood supply, the tension-free closure and the stability of the graft — which is why we spend consent time on flap design rather than on brand names.

7 named risks
5-stage timeline
Classification table
Consent language in full

Read plate 04

Fig 05 · Soft-tissue profileMandible & osteotomy · Plates & screws

Layers

Plate 05 · 2–5 hours · General anaesthesia, hospital

Corrective jaw surgery

Orthognathic surgery — Le Fort I, bilateral sagittal split osteotomy, genioplasty and SARPE — planned virtually and phased with orthodontic decompensation.

Surgery to move the upper jaw, the lower jaw or both, so the teeth meet properly and the face is balanced. It runs alongside two to three years of braces.

This is the longest commitment we ask of anybody. Two to three years, most of it in braces, with a hospital stay in the middle and a face that changes. It is also the only way to correct a skeletal discrepancy in an adult. We spend the first consultation making sure the patient understands the timeline before we discuss the surgery.

8 named risks
6-stage timeline
Consent language in full

Read plate 05

Fig 06 · Capsule & lateral pterygoidCondyle & fossa · Displaced disc

Layers

Plate 06 · Consultation 45 min · Usually none · sedation for arthrocentesis

TMJ & facial pain

Assessment of temporomandibular disorders, with conservative management first and staged intervention — arthrocentesis, arthroscopy, open arthroplasty — reserved for defined failures.

Jaw joint pain, clicking and locking. Most of it settles with treatment that does not involve surgery, and that is where we start.

The most useful thing an oral surgeon can do for most temporomandibular disorder is decline to operate. The great majority of patients improve with education, load reduction, physiotherapy and time. This page exists partly to say so, because patients arrive expecting to be offered surgery and referrers deserve to know we will not offer it lightly.

5 named risks
5-stage timeline
Consent language in full

Read plate 06

Fig 07 · Mucosa & lesionSubmucosa · Incisional margin

Layers

Plate 07 · 20–40 min · Local

Oral pathology & biopsy

Assessment and biopsy of mucosal and intra-osseous lesions, with a same-week pathway for anything suspicious and direct referral into head-and-neck oncology where required.

Getting a definite answer about a lump, patch or ulcer in the mouth by taking a small sample and having a pathologist look at it.

Any mucosal lesion that has not resolved two weeks after removing an obvious cause needs a diagnosis, not another review. We keep assessment slots open every week for exactly this, and we will not ask a suspicious lesion to wait for a routine appointment.

5 named risks
5-stage timeline
Consent language in full

Read plate 07

Not on this list

Facial trauma, exposure of impacted canines, frenectomy, pre-prosthetic surgery.

We also take dentoalveolar trauma, surgical exposure and bonding of impacted canines, frenectomy, removal of retained roots and pre-prosthetic surgery. They do not have their own plates because most of what would be on them is already covered above.

If you are not sure whether a case is one for us, call the referral line on (612) 555-0150 and ask. We would rather have the conversation than have you guess.