When your child needs a pediatric oral surgeon, it’s natural to feel a little nervous. They’re your baby after all, and the thought of “surgery” always comes with butterflies in the stomach. The first step toward calming those nerves, as well as any that your child may have, is to understand what pediatric oral surgery entails.
The important thing to keep in mind is that oral surgery for children isn’t nearly as intimidating as it sounds. Like pediatricians and pediatric dentists, pediatric oral surgeons are specially trained to work with children. They know how to put your child at ease and explain the process. They will do everything they can to ensure your child’s oral surgery is as relaxed and comforting an experience as possible.
What Ages Do Pediatric Oral Surgeons Treat?
Pediatric oral surgeons treat anyone under the age of 18, which includes babies, children, and teenagers. Our pediatric oral surgeon, Dr. Puckett, once treated a patient as young as 48 hours old. The baby was tongue-tied and could not latch on to feed.
At our office south of Cincinnati, we regularly remove wisdom teeth from teenagers, and we’ve helped many young children with dental trauma and tooth removal. Dr. Puckett understands these experiences can be intimidating, especially for the parents, but he tries to make them as easy on the patient as possible. He believes in gentle care and does everything he can to help ease a child’s fears.
Oral Surgery Procedures that May Require a Pediatric Oral Surgeon
So, what kind of oral surgeries are typical for children? It’s usually adults who need oral surgery, but there are several situations when your child might need a surgical procedure, too.
Root canals are a common procedure, especially if there has been some sort of oral trauma. Keep in mind that primary teeth act like guides for permanent teeth. If something happens to the guide, this can have a negative influence on the adult teeth that follow. If the pulp of the tooth is damaged or infected, it may need to be removed. It’s rare, but even children sometimes need root canals. Don’t worry, though. The process is relatively pain-free, aside from the initial pinch as we apply the numbing agent.
Wisdom tooth extraction is a fairly common procedure for teenagers, and is performed by a pediatric oral surgeon. Wisdom teeth removal is often the last experience that will take place over the course of your child’s pediatric dental history. It’s an important step on the path to adulthood. Some people wait until they are young adults to have their wisdom teeth removed, but others do so when they are teens. It depends on the development rate of the wisdom teeth. Wisdom tooth extraction isn’t cheap, so the procedure is best performed while the child is still covered under the parent’s dental insurance plan.
Dental trauma, meanwhile, is probably the most common need for a pediatric oral surgeon. Playing sports, being a rambunctious kid, or suffering a bike or car accident could lead to tooth extraction. Depending on whether the tooth lost is a baby tooth or a permanent tooth, we may need to find a different solution when it comes to tooth replacement.
Oral surgery may also be necessary for infants to fix tongue-tied problems that could be disrupting the feeding process.
A pediatric oral surgeon may also be necessary to address overbites, underbites, and crossbites. A bite that does not meet together properly is known as a malocclusion. It can sometimes involve missing or extra teeth, crowded teeth, or misaligned jaws. These issues can be the result of an accident or a developmental challenge, such as finger or thumb sucking.
We can address malocclusion through oral surgery. Surgical reshaping, which is a specialized type of oral surgery also called orthognathic surgery, can be used to lengthen or shorten the jaw through a combination of stabilizing screws, plates, or wires.
Relax! Your Child is in Good Hands
Pediatric oral surgery is sometimes necessary, but nothing to be afraid of. Dr. Puckett is a trained maxillofacial surgeon who will do everything he can to put your child at ease and ensure their oral surgery experience is as relaxed, comfortable, and pain-free as possible. He is trained in all forms of sedation dentistry to minimize pain and discomfort. If the oral surgery is extensive, your child may not even be awake or remember much from the experience.
If you’re anywhere in the Cincinnati area and your child may need an oral surgery procedure, we invite you to come to our office, where our pediatric oral surgeon, Dr. Puckett, will explain the surgery process. You’ll be invited to ask any questions you may have, and your child will meet Dr. Puckett and his staff. We’ll help put you both at ease with a personalized meet and greet so you and your child can get to know us, see our Wilmington practice, and start learning what to expect.
