What counts as oral surgery?

The defining line

Oral surgery means dental procedures that involve cutting into gum or bone. That is the distinction from ordinary dental treatment, and it is what puts a procedure in this category rather than the tooth involved.

What it covers

• Surgical extractions, including impacted or broken-down teeth.
• Removal of retained roots.
• Exposure of a buried tooth, often as part of orthodontic treatment.
• Minor soft-tissue procedures.
• Bone grafting, commonly to prepare a site for an implant.
• Biopsy of a persistent lesion.

You are usually awake

Most oral surgery is done under local anaesthesia — you are awake but the area is fully numb. Sedation can be arranged where the case is complex or where anxiety makes it appropriate, and that is agreed beforehand rather than decided on the day.

If anxiety is the thing stopping you booking, say so when you make the appointment. It is a planning input, not an inconvenience.

What you must tell the dentist first

This is the part that genuinely changes how a procedure is planned:

• All current medication, and especially blood thinners, bisphosphonates or steroids.
• Any heart condition, diabetes, bleeding disorder, implanted device or allergy.
• Whether you are pregnant.

Do not stop any prescribed medication on your own. Report it and let the planning account for it.

Stitches

Often needed. Many are dissolving and disappear on their own within one to two weeks. Non-dissolving sutures are removed at the follow-up appointment, which takes a moment and does not need anaesthesia.

Recovery, in one line

It depends on the procedure — a straightforward surgical extraction commonly means several days of swelling and soreness, with most people back to normal activity within a week, and complete bone healing continuing after you already feel fine. That is covered in more detail separately.

Full detail on the oral surgery page; see also what to expect afterwards. Consultation ₹500, waived against treatment.