Extractions

Your third and final molars to emerge are your wisdom teeth, which usually come in when you are between 17 and 25 years old. While many people do not experience problems with these new teeth, many others find that theirs must be removed. If your mouth does not have enough room for these molars to come in, a wisdom tooth extraction is necessary, and at our office in Del Rio, TX, Dr. Louis Cadena can determine whether a wisdom tooth extraction is the best course of action for you.

 

Wisdom teeth are usually removed because they become impacted, which means that the tooth does not have enough room to come in straight through the gums and instead emerges at an angle. This can cause pain, damage to the jaw and a more crooked smile. Additionally, the site of impaction can become a bacterial hotspot since impacted wisdom teeth are hard to clean.

 

Wisdom teeth extractions can range from removing a single tooth to removing all four teeth at once. Dr. Cadena will let you know what he thinks is best for you. For the procedure, he will use either a local anesthetic to numb the area or a general anesthetic to sedate you while the teeth are extracted. The tooth will then be accessed through an incision in the gums and wiggled until it is loose enough to be lifted out. If the tooth is too deeply embedded to be removed this way, it will be broken up into pieces before being removed.

Mini Implants

Mini Implants

Patients with missing teeth often visit us here at Cadena Dentistry looking for a permanent solution. Dental implants are the only permanent option for replacing missing teeth, where a metal (titanium) post is implanted into the jawbone, which then grows and heals around the post.

 

Our dental practice also offers mini implants, which are a smaller and less expensive version of traditional implants. They are just as effective, but the treatment goes much more quickly.

The procedure for mini implants in our Del Rio, TX dental office is as follows:

 

1. The patient first visits us for x-rays and to get an impression made of a nearby natural tooth. This is done to have an abutment made for the top of the implant.

2. On the patient’s return appointment, our dentist, Dr. Louis Cadena, installs the metal post through their gums and into the jawbone.

3. The abutment is bonded to the top of the post during the same appointment.

4. Patients can start eating normal food the same day if they wish.

 

With mini implants, the process goes more quickly and patients appreciate that they can resume normal eating right away. If you want to replace a tooth with a mini implant, call dentist Dr. Louis Cadena at 830-775-3322.