monkey nonsense

so after every visit to the dentist, i usually come back and google/wikipedia things to learn a bit more about what occurred with my teeth.

so the tooth i got root canal-ed was my 12 year molar… i got them when i was 16, what a misnomer! (so i’m a bit slow…) they actually haven’t fully erupted, part of the tooth is still in the gums. so normally after a root canal, they’ll grind away the crown part of your tooth and put a fake crown on top. since my tooth was partially in the gums, i had to get some gum “surgery” so that the crown would have space.

on the receipt, it listed a gingivectomy! haha, i got a gingivectomy! i tried to come back and wikipedia it to learn more about it and to my surprise, wikipedia did not have an article for it!!

gingivectomy – Gingivectomy is a form of gum surgery. It is best described as the surgical removal of gingiva. Healthy gums are an important part of a person’s general oral hygiene and appearance. Sometimes in certain people the gums can grow and build up over the front surface of a tooth. This formation of extra gum can change the balance between the length of the teeth and the height of the gum line, leading in some cases to a person having a bad smile.

A gingivectomy is a type of minor surgery that involves the removal of a small amount of gum tissue around a tooth or teeth. A gingivectomy can be performed to correct a poor smile or maybe needed to be done to remove a diseased tooth, or allow a filling to be placed.

Performing a gingivectomy is quick and relatively painless. Firstly a local anesthetic is applied to completely numb the area of the gums. A small incision is made and the excess gum tissue is removed using a dental tool. A periodontal dressing covers the teeth and gums post-surgery to protect them while fully healing. This takes a few weeks, but after that the gum is completely free of pain.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 9th, 2006 at 3:24 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.