Nobody likes surgery. Nobody likes the idea of being sedated to have something done to their bodies. The thought is quite uncomfortable for most people. Yet, there are just some surgeries in adulthood that are both inevitable and common. Oral surgeries, in particular, occur in adulthood, and more than one of the following surgeries are in your future, starting at age eighteen.

1. Wisdom Tooth Extraction

Wisdom teeth are extracted for all manner of reasons. Typically, it is because the structure of your mouth and the size of the rest of your teeth are too small and too large, respectively. You may have other problems with your wisdom teeth, too, such as impaction (teeth cannot break through the gums because they are stuck under other molars) or they come in at odd angles that make it difficult or painful to chew or speak.

A wisdom tooth extraction surgery involves general anesthesia. Then the surgeon uses a drill to break the wisdom teeth into easy-to-extract pieces. Finally, the surgeon pulls these pieces and sews up the gum tissue with sutures after each tooth is pulled. You spend the rest of the day sleeping off the anesthesia, "eating" liquid or soft foods, and taking prescription painkillers as needed. Generally, late teens and early twenties is when this procedure is done.

2. Root Canal

A root canal is an oral surgery that only requires local anesthesia. You can, and often are, awake for the procedure. (The only time people are under general anesthesia for a root canal is when they are terrified of dental procedures and are typically sedated for dental appointments anyway.)

After the anesthesia kicks in, the dentist begins by drilling down into the dead root or roots of the tooth. He/she extracts the rotten/dead pulp from the root(s). Then the dentist fills the cleaned-out root(s) with a dental cement. The tooth may or may not be crowned at this point, but the crown of the tooth is restored to prevent any further issues with that tooth. It may feel weird for a day or two, but you adjust to the sensation. Most middle-aged adults have one root canal at some point.

3. Dental Implants

Once you are old enough that you begin losing your adult teeth to old age, you may opt for a third oral surgery. This one is for dental implants, to restore missing teeth with fake ones. Rather than live with dentures, your dentist sedates you and then cuts through gum tissue to the bone.

With the bone exposed, the dentist drills into the bone to create an opening for an abutment screw. After the abutment screw is installed in the bone, the dentist sews up the tissue around the screw. After a few weeks, your crown for each implant is installed, and you have a full set of teeth again. 

For more information, contact a company like Forest Edge Dental Care.