Wisdom tooth removal is often the call to action. The procedure on impacted teeth is usually performed before the bone fully matures.  The beauty in today’s solution for wisdom tooth removal is that there have been advancements made in anesthetics so they people won’t feel or recollect the surgery. Typically performed under IV sedation with the use of a local anesthesia in the treatment area, wisdom tooth removal may be a minimal type of surgery or more extensive depending upon several factors.  The position of the tooth plays a role in the extent of surgery. The maturity of the root is a factor in surgery. The person’ age is another factor in the decision for the approach to surgery. For more minor surgery, local anesthesia may be suffice.  Following the procedure, patients return home with anti-pain medication to stay ahead of discomfort.

If you are interested in a consultation, contact Austin dentist Dr. Mark Sweeney at 512-380-1300

There’s 13 different bacteria that cause periodontal disease and we can now test for them so we can customize the patient’s treatment needs to their specific bacteria. And we know now that there’s about 8% of the population that have periodontal disease in some form or fashion. Typically it starts out as just bleeding and then it can progress to bone loss and eventually tooth loss. So we’re very excited about the fact that we can test for these things and help prevent that for a lot of our patients.

And the second test we do along with that one is called a susceptibility test where we are able to detect their basically their genes or the genetic makeup to see if they are susceptible to periodontal disease and if they are, how susceptible they are based on a number reading from one to four, one being the least susceptible, four being the most susceptible, and if they are very susceptible then we know that we need to treatment plan their cleaning and their dental visits more tailored to the needs and they need to come in more often and they need to be more proactive with their homecare and just day to day stuff.

Another new technology that we have in our office that is brand new to dentistry is a test called a Vizilite test. And that is an oral cancer screening. We know that oral cancer is not on the decrease like a lot of the other cancers are because it’s not been able to be detected early on. So now we have a special test that we can do to see that before it is actually visual, that it can be seen in the mouth. And so we have the patient rinse with a special solution and it absorbs if there are any precancerous cells and then we use a light to shine in the mouth and we can actually see it before it can be seen visually which has been great for early detection and long term prognosis is much better if it’s caught early.

And we love the results. It’s been great. You’re made to feel special like you’re the number one patient in here. You’re greeted with a smile always, always. And bottled water. Everybody’s nice. Everybody has a smile. Nobody is ever in a bad mood in here. Never. Well I always liked to smile, but I always kind of put my hand in front of my mouth. So now I smile all the time. I’m just proud of it. It’s like it’s made me feel younger. It’s just made me feel so much better about myself.

So anyway, just confident and I smile in every picture because people used to be like why don’t you smile. It’s always your friends who have nice teeth that say why aren’t you smiling. Well why do you think you know. So I don’t know if you’ll see the before or not, but you’ll see the difference. I would recommend him because he is excellent at what he does. He is and I believe that you can have all the experience in the world. You can be improving teeth for 20 years which I think he has plus.

But there’s also talent. I think I get a talent that you either have or you don’t and an eye for it because it is kind of like an artistry. You know you can make the tooth a little longer, a little shorter, the color. I mean there’s a million variables and he just has a skill and a talent for doing that. And I love the people. – - I will not give my business to any business that I don’t, I’m treated well. You know the women and the people that work here are very friendly and genuinely friendly, eager to help and it’s just a fun environment. And it’s very comfortable. That’s another big thing is comfort is a key thing. You know a lot of people freak out at the dentist and you don’t here. You know it’s just a, it’s like a small environment.

It’s the greatest thing I’ve ever done. Very, very happy with it. I wore my temporaries for about two to three weeks and made a few minor changes and got them exactly where I wanted them to be. And it’s been fabulous. I absolutely love my smile. I get compliments constantly and even though it wasn’t something I really needed, it’s totally changed my smile and how I feel about it. Anyone that fears a dentist shouldn’t fear coming here for veneers because it’s a piece of cake.

And then there was a picture. I looked for the picture and it was me and my best friend and he has like this beautiful smile white perfect teeth that are just all natural. And I had these horrible little, I just looked at my smile and I thought God that’s horrible. I’m like I’m doing it. The next day I called. As soon as I saw that picture, I called and I was like I’m coming in. I’m getting it done, I’m doing it. And so here I am and I’m much, much happier.

I love Dr. Sweeney. I actually found Dr. Sweeney on I Googled and I was trying to look for the best you know cosmetic dentist because I had a regular dentist. I didn’t really you know that’s a little bit scary to go through all this. You know you want it to look good. And I’ve seen people with bad veneers. And so I found Dr. Sweeney and I loved him. He was so funny and he has a little longhorn thing on his tooth and I’m a big longhorn. And so we kind of had that in common and he was just really nice and obviously knew his stuff and had a lot of experience and lots of training. And I was just impressed with everything about him and all the staff here as well.

We’ve been able to take care of patients who were so phobic they couldn’t even bring themselves to come in the front door the first couple of times they made appointments. And we’ve been able to utilize this technology and this approach to get all of their dentistry done in less than a half day appointment.

We have never had a problem in the 20 years I’ve been using sedation on patients and yet it’s allowed us to treat many, many people who otherwise would not, are so anxious they would not have been able to complete their dentistry in a single visit.