What Are the Most Common Pediatric Oral Surgeries?

Children might also need oral surgeries due to accidents or problems with their growing teeth and mouth. The need for oral surgeries among children may arise at any time.

Oral surgeries are scary for parents and children alike. While children may not know what to expect, parents might stress about the procedure needing oral surgery. Therefore parents help themselves ease stress and anxiety and reassure themselves by collecting information about oral surgeries that children might need from the children’s dentist near Houston.

What Are Pediatric Surgeons?

If your child is affected by an illness, injury, or disease requiring surgery, pediatric surgeons have the experience and training to treat your child compassionately. In addition, surgical issues observed by pediatric surgeons are often different from problems seen by adult general surgeons. Therefore, when performing pediatric surgery, specialist training is necessary for pediatric surgery.

Generally, pediatric surgeons who are also medical professionals complete four years of education in a medical school, five years of training in adult surgery, two more years of fellowship training in pediatric surgery, and get certified by the American Board of surgery in general and pediatric surgery.

What Does a Pediatric Surgeon Do?

Pediatric surgeons are trained to treat various procedures to manage the unique needs of children. They are the experts in treating congenital disabilities and detecting abnormalities before birth that might need surgical intervention. In addition, pediatric surgeons have the skills to perform newborn surgery, trauma surgery, and cancer surgery significant reasons for children needing surgery.

When managing oral surgeries among children, pediatric surgeons perform some of the most common oral surgeries, which include:

• Tooth Extraction: Children are often recommended tooth extractions for orthodontic reasons. They also receive recommendations to undergo pediatric surgery in Houston, TX, for wisdom teeth removal, permanent teeth extraction, or baby teeth removed if your child’s jaw is too small and might face problems with crowding. Extracting these teeth early helps with proper alignment when the new teeth erupt.
• Injury or Trauma Treatment: Accidents are responsible for many children needing surgical intervention. The pediatric dentist in Houston, TX, recommends surgery for deep cuts in and around the mouth, jaw fractures, knocked out teeth causing accidental loss of permanent teeth, et cetera.
• Frenectomy: Frenectomies are relatively straightforward and help remove extra folds of soft tissue in the middle and upper lip, gums, and under the tongue. The removal is essential to keep the lip and tongue in place because additional tissue resulting in problems brings about a recommendation from the pediatric surgeon for removal.
• Exposure of Impacted or Non-Erupted Teeth: for various reasons, some children’s teeth might not erupt through the gums because they are blocked or impacted. Canines might have issues with erupting properly but remain essential for the correct formation of the mouth and teeth for a growing child. When treating teeth that are impacted or not erupting, pediatric surgeons recommend oral surgery to expose them and align them into place.

Expectations When Your Child Needs Oral Surgery

It is familiar to notice children and adolescents expressing anxiety when visiting an oral surgeon, especially if they have suffered mouth, face, or jaw trauma. Therefore parents must ensure they find an appropriate oral surgeon to help ease anxiety in the child to proceed with the procedure without fear. In addition, parents can also help ease stress among themselves. Finding an oral surgeon to help make your child feel safe and comfortable is essential to ensure your child’s oral health doesn’t remain impacted.

When parents find an experienced oral surgeon, they can expect the professional to examine the child’s mouth, determine what therapy is needed, and make a treatment plan for them. The discussion with the oral surgeon must include payment options and dental insurance to ensure parents don’t confront surprises after their child receives the treatment.

Parents can also discuss what steps are involved in the surgical procedure besides the anesthesia children will receive during the process. They must also collect after-care instructions from the surgeon for recovery and post-operative care. Special care is also required to ensure children can maintain their caloric and fluid intake before and after the operation.

Oral surgeries can induce scary feelings in children and parents. However, the board-certified oral health professionals at Greenway Pediatric Dentistry provide assurance and calm needed for parents to proceed with confidence when their child needs processes of oral surgery in their mouths.