Many patients require pre-prosthetic surgery Los Angeles before getting dental prosthetics like dentures. These are the surgical procedures that are used to prepare the mouth for prosthetics.
Normally, the prosthetic is placed on the bone ridge which has to be prepared and made smooth for a perfect fit. Pre-prosthetic surgery is used to shape the bone into the desired form.
This involves procedures such as smoothing and reshaping the bone, removing excess gum tissue, reducing the bone ridge, exposing impacted teeth and removing excess bone. Pre-prosthetic surgery is done by an oral and maxillofacial surgeon who can also conduct the tooth replacement procedure.
Common pre-prosthetic surgical procedures:
Alveoloplasty
Alveoloplasty is the medical term for trimming and reducing excess bone before getting dentures. The labiobuccal alveolar bone (or jawbone ridge) is reshaped, smoothened and re-contoured in alveoloplasty.
The procedure is usually done on areas where teeth are missing or have been extracted. When the jawbone doesn’t heal naturally after tooth extraction or where teeth have been removed sporadically over a long period, the irregular bone structure might occur.
As discussed above, the denture needs to be fixed on an even surface, and any part of the jawbone ridge that is sharp or protruding will be irritated by the surface of the denture. Parts of the bone ridge which are concave or irregular must be reshaped so that the denture can slip over the bone ridge.
Genial tubercle reduction
This is another pre-prosthetic surgery used to improve how dentures fit. It involves reducing the ridge where the geniogloccus muscle connects to the lower jaw. In some rare instances, the genial tubercle can act as a shelf onto which the denture is constructed against.
If the dentist decides that augmentation of the anterior part of the mandible is required before attaching the denture, then the genial tubercle is left to add support to the grafted bone tissue. Patients may experience bleeding, swelling and infection after a genial tubercle reduction surgery.
Vestibuloplasty
Vestibuloplasty is a surgical procedure that is mostly performed on the lower jaw, usually in the front part. It is performed to correct resorption of bone tissue where the jaw bone degrades after a tooth is removed.
If the lower jaw’s front part has a gap from a missing tooth, the remaining bone and gum tissue might not be the correct height to support a denture.
Vestibuloplasty is performed in such cases, and the muscle attachments of the lower lip are lowered to increase the functional height of the lower jaw. This way, the jaw can effectively support the dentures.
Ridge augmentation
Another pre-prosthetic surgery Los Angeles dentists perform is ridge augmentation. The main purpose is to recreate the alveolar ridge located in the jaw which can be deteriorated following a tooth extraction.
After a tooth is removed, the empty socket usually heals, and space is filled with bone tissue. Sometimes the ridge surrounding the socket can break and normal healing doesn’t happen.
The depth and width of the socket continue deteriorating, and a denture cannot be supported effectively. Ridge augmentation is carried out to rebuild the bone to its original height and width in order to support dentures.