Oral Surgery in Dixon, CA

Surgical Care Without the Long Drive

For years, patients in Dixon who needed oral surgery were sent somewhere else. Sacramento, Davis, Fairfield, sometimes farther. That meant a referral, a wait for an opening at an unfamiliar office, a separate set of X-rays, a separate consultation fee, and a drive that took half a day off work for a procedure that lasted forty minutes.

Thrive Dental Dixon now provides oral and maxillofacial surgery in house. Your evaluation, your surgery, and the restorative work that follows are handled by one team that already has your records.

Who Performs Oral Surgery Here

Dr. Roger K. Lau, DDS earned his dental degree at the UCLA School of Dentistry and completed a four-year oral and maxillofacial surgery residency at Allegheny Health Network in Pittsburgh, including a chief resident year, after dual surgical internships at Montefiore Medical Center and Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.

Oral and maxillofacial surgery is one of the twelve dental specialties recognized by the National Commission on Recognition of Dental Specialties and Certifying Boards. Every other dentist at our Dixon office is a general dentist. When your treatment plan calls for surgery, Dr. Lau handles that part.

Wisdom Teeth for Dixon Families

Most wisdom tooth evaluations happen between ages sixteen and twenty-two, when roots are still forming and the surrounding bone is less dense. That timing matters for families in Dixon, Winters, and Vacaville who are working around school schedules, sports seasons, and a child leaving for college in the fall.

We take digital imaging, assess where each third molar sits relative to the nerve and the sinus, and tell you plainly whether removal is indicated. Some wisdom teeth erupt into a functional position and should be left alone. Others are impacted and will cause repeated gum infection, decay in the second molar, or crowding if they stay. We recommend removal when the imaging and the exam support it, not by default.

Dental Implants and Rebuilding Lost Bone

The jawbone that held a tooth begins to shrink as soon as the tooth is gone. Patients who have carried a gap for several years often do not have enough bone volume left to anchor an implant without rebuilding it first.

A bone graft restores that foundation. A sinus lift is a specific graft used in the upper back jaw, where the maxillary sinus sits low and limits available height. Ridge preservation is a smaller graft placed at the moment of extraction to keep the socket from collapsing while you decide on replacement. All three are routine parts of dental implant planning.

Because the surgical placement and the final crown are planned together here, the implant goes in where the restoration needs it to be.

When a Tooth Cannot Be Saved

Teeth fractured below the gum line, decayed past the point of restoration, or fused to the surrounding bone cannot be removed with forceps. A surgical extraction uses a small incision and careful sectioning of the tooth to remove it while protecting the bone you will need later. Preserving that bone is the difference between a straightforward implant and a graft plus a longer timeline.

Dental Injuries in an Agricultural Community

Solano County runs on agriculture and equipment. Facial and dental injuries from equipment, livestock, and vehicle accidents are not rare here, and they are frequently treated as an emergency and then never followed up properly. Teeth that were splinted and left, jaws that healed slightly out of position, and implants placed years ago that are now failing all deserve a surgical evaluation rather than another temporary fix. For immediate injuries, see our emergency dentistry page.

What Your First Visit Looks Like

The consultation is an evaluation, not a procedure. We review your medical history and current medications, examine the area, take digital imaging, and discuss what we find. You leave with a written treatment plan, an anesthesia recommendation, a cost estimate checked against your benefits, and a realistic description of recovery. Nothing is scheduled until you have that in hand.

Most patients are back to routine activity two to three days after a surgical extraction. Implant and grafting cases involve a longer biological healing period before the final restoration goes on, usually three to six months.

Serving Dixon and the Surrounding Valley

Our office at 255 N Lincoln St Suite B serves Dixon, Fairfield, Winters, Woodland, Davis, and Vacaville. For most of these communities, we are considerably closer than the Sacramento surgical practices patients were previously referred to. See our Dixon areas we serve page for details on each community.

Book an Oral Surgery Consultation in Dixon

If you have been told you need wisdom teeth out, you are missing teeth and want to know whether implants are realistic, you have a tooth that cannot be saved, or you have a sore or lump that has not healed in two weeks, the next step is an evaluation.

Call (707) 678-1657 or schedule online.