Oral Surgery – Carmichael, CA
Trusted Expertise For Complex Dental Issues
Dr. Sheng Ji is able to provide his patients with absolutely everything they need to gain relief from persistent oral pain, recover from facial injuries, and achieve a healthy and functional smile. An oral surgeon with many years of experience and thousands of hours of training under his belt, he’s able to provide an array of Carmichael oral surgery services at a level you just won’t find anywhere else. To schedule a consultation to learn how he can help you, contact us today.
Why Choose Sheng Ji, DDS, MD Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery for Oral Surgery?
- Certified Oral Surgeon Trained in Both Medicine & Dentistry
- TMJ Therapy: Solutions for Chronic Jaw Pain & Headaches
- Sedation Dentistry Guarantees Patient Comfort
Surgical Tooth Extractions
When a tooth has become impacted (stuck) while erupting, a surgical extraction is often the best course of action to remove it and prevent it from developing pain or an infection. This is usually the method used to remove the wisdom teeth. Dr. Ji is an expert at this procedure and has literally performed it countless times over the course of his career, combining a gentle touch and his years of experience to deliver comfortable care and reliable results.
Learn About Surgical Tooth Extraction
Impacted Canine Treatment
The canine teeth are the pointed ones located on either side of the front teeth, and their function is to help you bite into food more easily. For some children, they can become stuck while erupting, leading to an impaction. In addition to affecting the appearance of the smile, this can also throw off the spacing of the surrounding teeth and even inhibit their ability to speak and eat properly. Working with an orthodontist, Dr. Ji can help free these teeth from gum and bone tissue so they have a clear path and are able to erupt normally into the mouth.
Learn More About Exposure and Bracketing of Impacted Teeth
Facial Trauma Repair
A facial injury can be many things – the result of a simple slip and fall in your home, an injury from an automobile accident, or a blow suffered during your favorite sport. No matter the cause, severe facial trauma can be devastating for your oral health, and your overall appearance can suffer as well. When your face or jaw suffers any kind of injury, get in touch with Dr. Ji as soon as possible to have the damage evaluated and to see if oral or maxillofacial surgery offers a solution.
Most Common Types of Facial Trauma
Facial trauma is a rather broad category that can refer to soft tissue injuries, lacerations, bruises, fractures, or broken bones. In car accidents and sport-related injuries, the most common kinds of facial trauma are mouth and tooth injuries, which might include broken and chipped teeth or a fractured jawbone. This is the type of facial trauma that you would be most likely to see an oral surgeon for. We can also help with traumas involving the bone located around the cheeks, jaws, eyes, and nose. We can also evaluate certain soft tissue injuries involving the cartilage of the nose.
Treatment from an Experienced Oral Surgeon
Dr. Ji pursued specialized training in oral and maxillofacial surgery after graduating from UCSF dental school. He has completed a six-year residency program in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at UT Southwestern/Parkland, where he had the opportunity to work alongside numerous surgeons. This allowed him to learn the full scope of oral and maxillofacial procedures so that he could meet all of his patients’ unique needs. He is trained in both medicine and dentistry, meaning he is qualified to repair many different kinds of facial trauma. And thanks to his years of experience, he’s had a chance to deal with a wide variety of such issues firsthand.
What is the Repair Process Like?
The process will vary depending on the type of treatment you required. Before your procedure, several X-rays will be taken of your mouth and head, and we’ll thoroughly review your medical history so that we understand your needs. We’ll also have to take any over-the-counter medications, vitamins, or supplements you use into account.
If anesthesia is going to be used during your surgery, avoid eating and drinking for at least eight hours. During the procedure itself, we’ll closely monitor your vital signs to make sure your body isn’t having an adverse reaction to the anesthetic. Once the procedure is done, you’ll usually need to take the rest of the day to recover. The exact length of the recovery process will depend on the complexity of the procedure you underwent. You may need to take prescribed painkillers to stay comfortable while your mouth is healing. We’ll make sure that you’re aware of any changes in your diet that you’ll need to make before the treatment is performed. If you notice anything out of the ordinary, call and let us know as soon as possible.
Corrective Jaw Surgery
Problems such as severe overbites and underbites can often be corrected with orthodontics alone, but in extreme cases, the most effective approach involves orthognathic surgery, more commonly known as corrective jaw surgery. Usually, this requires cooperation between your oral surgeon and orthodontist. Once your orthodontist finishes his/her portion of treatment, Dr. Ji will acquire models/scans of your jaw to plan for the surgery. The surgery itself will be performed in a hospital setting. It usually involves lengthening or shortening of either the upper or lower jaw in order to line up the bite correctly. This way it dramatically improves a person’s appearance as well as improve their ability to chew and talk. As an added benefit, it oftentimes also improves one’s airway, addressing problems such as sleep apnea.
Oral Pathology
Oral pathology involves the diagnosis, treatment, and management of diseases that affect the head/neck region and oral cavity. All sorts of lesions/cysts/tumors affect your mouth/jaw/neck region. Some of them can be slow growing while others can be quite aggressive, oftentimes causing pain and swelling. It is never a good idea to ignore these warning signs, as some of these can be benign tumors, or even worse, aggressive cancer. Dr. Ji has been trained in one of the nation’s top oral surgery program, where he has routinely encountered and managed all sorts of head and neck pathology and infections. If you have any concerns regarding a mass/lesion in your mouth or head/neck region, please call our oral surgery office to schedule an appointment for a consultation.
Learn MoreFrenectomy
Every single person has at least three small bands of tissue in their mouth called frenulums—one on each lip that connects them to the gums, and another found underneath the tongue. These tissues can sometimes be so short or rigid that they inhibit normal oral function, preventing someone from eating, speaking, or even breathing properly. A frenectomy is a quick and painless procedure in which the offending tissue is either loosened or removed altogether to quickly free up someone’s oral mobility.
Learn More About Lip & Tongue Tie Treatment
Facial Cosmetic Surgery
Everyone knows that having an attractive and confident smile is a huge asset in today’s world, but sometimes, the orientation of the jaw and surrounding bone can prevent someone from having an attractive and symmetrical appearance. Correcting issues like these are often beyond the reach of general dentistry and even orthodontics, but Dr. Ji is more than capable of giving a patient what they need. Working closely with a patient, he can help them design what they want their new smile to look like, and then he can turn it into a reality using a custom-designed procedure.
TMJ/TMD Disorders
Does your jaw feel sore all the time? Do you constantly get headaches and don’t know why? If so, then the culprit might be a temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorder or TMD. The TMJ is like any other major joints in your body. They are a set of hinges that enables your lower jaw to move. With chronic wear and tear, acute injuries, or even misaligned bites, it can alter the function of these joints and lead to inflammation and subsequent pain and stiffness. Dr. Ji has been trained under one of the world’s premier TMJ surgeon, and has mastered various surgical managements including arthrocentesis, arthroscopy and TMJ arthroplasty with eventual TMJ replacements. If TMD has been an ongoing issue for you, and you have tried on various splints with no improvement, maybe a surgical solution is what you need. Please give us a call for a consultation regarding your TMJ issues, and we can narrow down the source of your pain and tackle the problem with appropriate conservative management or surgery.
Bone Grafting
If the bone tissue in your jaw has deteriorated, it might still be possible to get dental implants once resorption has been reversed. Bone grafting takes bone tissue from elsewhere in your body (such as another part of your mouth) and places it in the jaw to encourage it to rebuild itself. It can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months for your jaw to produce all the necessary bone tissue needed to support the implants.
Sinus Lift
Sinus lifts are often performed when dental implants need to be placed near the back of the upper jaw where the molars are normally located. After creating an opening in the bone, we can carefully lift the membrane of the sinus cavity, moving it away from the area where the implant posts will eventually be inserted. The now-empty space will then be filled with bone grafting material in order to ensure that there’s enough bone density for dental implant surgery.
Oral Surgery FAQs
As an oral surgeon, part of Dr. Sheng Ji’s job is to make sure that you’re fully aware of and comfortable with every stage of the procedure. On this page, you’ll find some of the most frequently asked questions that tend to be on a patient’s mind when they’re due to undergo a tooth extraction, a jaw correction, or another form of oral surgery. You can also get in touch with us if you have any inquiries of your own.
Is It All Right If Stitches Come Out the Same Day as the Surgery?
If stitches were used to close a surgical site, they can occasionally fall out later that day. Most of the time, this doesn’t present a problem; the stitches were only placed in the first place to control the initial bleeding and encourage the formation of a protective blood clot (which is especially important if you had a wisdom tooth removed). However, there are certain circumstances – such as a bone-grafting procedure – where stitches coming out prematurely could end up affecting the body’s ability to heal properly over the long term. If you have any doubts, call our office so that Dr. Ji can decide whether you need an appointment.
What Will I Be Able to Eat?
Generally speaking, it’s best to stick with cool, soft foods for at least a few days after surgery. Applesauce and cottage cheese are often good choices. Hot foods should be avoided on the first day since they can disrupt the blood clot, and you should stay away from hard foods that can be broken into little pieces and become trapped at the surgical site. Dental implants will let you eat anything once they’ve integrated with the jaw, but you’ll typically need to stick to soft foods for at least the first six weeks.
What if Medication isn’t Helping My Pain After Wisdom Tooth Extraction?
If you didn’t receive a prescription, your best option is to use ibuprofen and Tylenol every six hours. Alternatively, you could take the ibuprofen, then take the Tylenol three hours later; this gives you the most control over your pain. Be sure to talk to us before beginning such a regimen. You may need an alternative form of treatment if you suffer from kidney problems or liver disease.
What Does It Mean if I Have a Dry Socket?
When a blood clot breaks down too early, the result is a condition called dry socket. You’ll notice increased pain around the surgical site as well as a bad taste in your mouth. We can treat this condition by washing out the socket and placing a medication dressing; however, we’ll need to act quickly before the healing process is significantly interrupted.
What if I’m Still Bleeding the Morning After the Procedure?
It’s normally not a problem if bleeding continues for a little while after a tooth extraction or certain other surgeries. If anything, it’s a sign that blood is flowing well, which is important for healing. You should be able to keep the bleeding under control through proper use of gauze. You should call our office immediately if blood starts filling your mouth and you find yourself unable to control the flow.
Is It Normal to Feel Nauseous if Sedation Was Used?
While it doesn’t always occur, nausea is a possible side effect of IV sedation. The best way to treat it is to be gentle on your stomach. Be sure to drink plenty of water and stay hydrated for several hours before attempting to eat something soft.
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