Northeast Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

Products And Services

• Dental Implants

  A natural tooth consists of a root and a crown. If you compare natural teeth to implant-supported replacement teeth, you’ll see they have the same basic parts. Both have a crown (the visible part used to chew food). Both have a root that holds the tooth securely under the gum and is anchored into the jaw. The difference is that the tooth implant is made of titanium – the same time-tested material used by surgeons for artificial joints. When you lose a tooth, you lose both the root and the crown. To replace the tooth, the surgeon first replaces the root with a small dental implant.

• Bone Grafting

  Missing teeth over a period of time can cause your jawbone to atrophy, or resorb. This often results in poor quality and quantity of bone suitable for the placement of dental implants as well as long term shifting of remaining teeth and changes to facial structure. Most patients, in these situations, are not candidates for dental implants. Fortunately, today we have the ability to grow bone where it is needed. This not only gives us the opportunity to place implants of proper length and width, but it also gives us a chance to restore functionality and aesthetic appearance.

• Bone Morphogenetic Protein

  Bone morphogenetic protein is an isolated protein that induces specific cells in our body to form new cartilage and bone. During surgery, the BMP is soaked onto and binds with a collagen sponge. The sponge is then designed to resorb, or disappear, over time. As the sponge dissolves, the bone morphogenetic protein stimulates the cells to produce new bone. The BMP also goes away once it has completed its task of jump-starting the normal bone healing process. Since there is no need to harvest bone from the patients’ hip for BMP, recipients were spared donor site pain. Complications from the graft harvest site are also eliminated with the use of bone morphogenetic protein.

• Wisdom Teeth for Impacted Molars

  Third molars are commonly referred to as wisdom teeth. They are usually the last teeth to develop and are located in the back of your mouth, behind your second molars. Their development is usually completed between the middle teenage years and early twenties, a time traditionally associated with the onset of maturity and the attainment of wisdom. What Is An Impacted Tooth? Although most people develop and grow 32 permanent adult teeth, many times their jaws are too small to accommodate the four wisdom teeth. When inadequate space prevents the teeth from erupting they are called impacted. This indicates their inability to erupt into the proper position for chewing and cleaning.

• Pre-Prosthetic Surgery

  The preparation of your mouth before the placement of your prosthesis (denture) is referred to as pre-prosthetic surgery. Some patients require minor oral surgical procedures before receiving a partial or complete denture, in order to ensure the maximum level of comfort. A denture sits on the bone ridge, so it is very important that the bone is the proper shape and size. If a tooth is extracted before your denture is placed, the underlying bone might be sharp and uneven. For the best fit of your denture, the bone might need to be smoothed or reshaped (alveloplasty). Occasionally, excess bone would need to be removed prior to denture insertion

• Oral Pathology

  The inside of the mouth is normally lined with a special type of skin (mucosa) that is smooth and pink in color. Any alteration in the appearance of the inside of your mouth could be a warning sign of a pathological process. The most serious of these is oral cancer. The following can be signs at the beginning of a pathologic process or cancerous growth: Reddish patches (erythroplasia) or whitish patches (leukoplakia) in the mouth. A sore that fails to heal and bleeds easily. A lump or thickening on the skin lining the inside of the mouth. Chronic sore throat or hoarseness. Difficulty in chewing or swallowing. These changes can be detected on the lips, cheeks, palate, and gum tissue around the teeth, tongue, face and/or neck. Pain does not always occur with pathology, and curiously, is not often associated with oral cancer. However, any patient with facial and/or oral pain without an obvious cause or reason may also be at risk for oral cancer.

• Impacted Canines (Expose and Bond)

  An impacted tooth simply means that it is stuck and cannot erupt into function. Patients frequently develop problems with impacted third molar (wisdom) teeth. These teeth get stuck in the back of the jaw and can develop painful infections among a host of other problems (see After Exposure of Impacted Teeth under Surgical Instructions). Since there is rarely a functional need for wisdom teeth, they are usually extracted if they develop problems. The maxillary cuspid (upper eyetooth) is the second most common tooth to become impacted. The cuspid tooth is a critical tooth in the dental arch and plays an important role in your bite. The cuspid teeth are very strong biting teeth and have the longest roots of any human teeth. They are designed to be the first teeth that touch when your jaws close together so they guide the rest of the teeth into the proper bite. Normally, the maxillary cuspid teeth are the last of the front teeth to erupt into place. They usually come into place around age 13 years and cause any space left between the upper front teeth to close tighter together. If a cuspid tooth gets impacted, every effort is made to get it to erupt into its proper position in the dental arch. The techniques involved to aid eruption can be applied to any impacted tooth in the upper or lower jaw, but most commonly they are applied to the maxillary cuspid (upper eye) teeth. Sixty percent of these impacted eyeteeth are located on the palatal (roof of the mouth) side of the dental arch. The remaining impacted eye teeth are found in the middle of the supporting bone but stuck in an elevated position above the roots of the adjacent teeth or out to the facial side of the dental arch.

• Frenectomy

  A frenum is a small muscle attachment in your mouth that extends from the upper and lower lips to the gums around your teeth (labial frenum) or from under your tongue to the floor of the mouth (lingual frenum). Dr. Fraser can evaluate your condition to determine if your frenum is causing a problem. In certain cases, after orthodontic treatment, the maxillary labial frenum may cause orthodontic relapse and push the upper incisors apart. In other cases where a large space (diastema) occurs between your child’s upper front teeth, your dentist may recommend an evaluation by Dr. Fraser. Adults who wear a maxillary complete denture and have a large labial frenum will often find a loose and poor performing plate. A maxillary labial frenectomy procedure will release the muscle attachment.

• Tori Removal

  The mandibular torus is a benign bony growth on the tongue side of the lower jaw usually in the molar and premolar area. Tori can occur unilaterally or bilaterally and can be solitary or lobulated. Your tori may become painful when the gum tissue covering over it gets injured. Injury often occurs when eating hard crunchy foods. Mandibular tori are usually evaluated by Dr. Fraser is when your dentist is considering the replacement of all of your teeth with a complete denture. A maxillary palatal torus is a firm mass of bone in the roof of your mouth. The cause of this benign bone mass is unknown but thought to have a genetic component. Maxillary palatal tori may appear to be flat or nodular. Large palatal tori are removed when they interfere with speech or interfere with wearing an upper complete denture.

• Office Anesthesia

  Many of our patients are very anxious about having oral surgery. You are not alone. After talking with Dr. Fraser at your consultation appointment, together we can decide which anesthesia option is best for you. Northeast Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery anesthesia options include Local Anesthesia, Nitrous Oxide Sedation, Conscious Intravenous Sedation and General Anesthesia. Dr. Fraser will discuss the use of each technique at your consultation appointment. In addition to your comfort, safety is our primary concern. Dr. Fraser has had extensive training and experience in the administration of anesthesia. Both doctors are Advanced Cardiac Life Support certified and all members of the surgical team are certified in CPR and AED. We follow the strict anesthesia guidelines developed by the Ohio Society of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons and the Ohio State Dental Board. Our operating rooms are equipped with the same type of monitors and instruments used at the medical center for safe anesthesia

• Galileos Cone Beam Scan

  The Sirona Galileos 3D Dental Imaging System provides high definition, in office, 3D digital imaging of the oral and facial regions. Our system allows us to provide patients and referring dentists with this cutting-edge diagnostic technology. The system affords complete 3D views of oral and maxillofacial structures providing us with the most thorough diagnostic information for a variety of treatment procedures allowing us a very accurate treatment plan resulting in a more predictable outcome. Galileos not only shows 3D displays in perfect image quality but also enables more complete navigation and diagnosis than the traditional 2D x-ray films.

• TRIOS® Scanner

  The digital revolution is impacting dentistry as it is in most of the rest of our lives. Dr. Bruce Fraser and Northeast Oral Surgery are at the forefront of bringing digital dental technology to Central Ohio for the benefit of our patients. Using the TRIOS digital scanner, the need for the traditional impressions has been eliminated. This state-of-the-art digital scanning system helps to increase work flow and efficiency of restorative care, by decreasing the number of patient visits. The digital scanning wand is used to capture images of your teeth and gum tissue to create a digital 3D model, aiding in the planning and increasing accuracy of your surgical procedures.