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A handful of dental procedures involve surgery. It is not a surprise for many people, especially those who may have undergone one of those procedures to address an oral health scare. The truth is various conditions require an oral surgery performed by an experienced and qualified Adelaide dental professional, and the reason why you are interested in this post is that you suspect you might have to undergo one of those procedures soon.

Here are the scenarios in which you may have to consult a dental professional for a potential surgical treatment:

1 – Impacted Wisdom Tooth

The third molars are the ones to develop last, and there is a possibility that the teeth could erupt and cause no harm to the patient. However, when the molars do not erupt, or they are misaligned, it will correspond to an impacted tooth between the jawbone and the gum. If you do not address the problem through surgery, there is a possibility that the surrounding teeth could get affected, too.

2 – Biopsies

Another surgical procedure you may undergo with the help of your dentist is when you continuously suffer from lesions on your mouth. The dental professional will need to perform a biopsy, the purpose of which is to determine signs of oral cancer. The procedure is not that invasive though and will only require the removal of a small piece of tissue, which in turn is used for laboratory analysis.

3 – Dental Implants

The primary objective of a dental implant procedure is to replace a missing tooth. It is characterised as a surgical procedure because a metal post is surgically implanted into the jawbone, thereby fusing it with the gum tissue and bone. The concept of dental implants is to come up with a strong foundation that will function as a realistic impression of a tooth. It also is a long-term solution.

4 – Jaw Alignment Surgery

An Adelaide dental professional can also help patients with misaligned jaws. If you suffer from this condition, it means you are not only worried about your appearance but also the function of your mouth. Misaligned jaws lead to chewing difficulties, and surgery is the only solution to correct the issue.

5 – Reconstructive Surgery

When you get injured due to an accident and your mouth and face incurred the most damage, you have no choice but to undergo reconstructive dental surgery to restore the function of your teeth, jawbone, and gums. Some of the most exceptional dental professionals out there are more than capable of transforming a damaged face and misaligned jaw due to a severe injury or trauma.

The good news for those who are apprehensive or afraid to visit a dentist for the possibility of surgery is that modern technology makes the procedures a lot quicker and painless compared to how they were several decades ago.

Though it may be relatively small, the supraspinatus muscle plays a key role in providing stability, helping the deltoid initiate abduction and also aiding shoulder rotation along with the other three muscles in the rotator cuff. The challenge comes in isolating the muscle so that it may be strengthened as a part of rehabilitation or injury prevention.

“While high muscle activation levels are often desirable, what’s more important is the relative activation of other muscles during the movement,” said Dr. Phil Page. “For example, Dr. Michael Reinold and colleagues suggested in their 2007 paper that a good rotator cuff exercise should produce the greatest supraspinatus activity while minimizing the deltoid activation. Theoretically, reducing deltoid activation decreases the upward shear of the humerus during arm elevation, which may be desirable when prescribing exercise to strengthen the supraspinatus in impingement patients.”

To decide once and for all which exercise is best for optimal for supraspinatus isolation and strengthening, researchers published in a 2009 issue of Medicine & Science in Sport & Exercise sought out to examine all exercises known to recruit supraspinatus at high levels and to compare the level of recruitment in supraspinatus, deltoid, and infraspinatus.

The shoulder showdown
Fifteen participants were hooked up with surface and intramuscular electrodes to take EMG recordings from the supraspinatus, infraspinatus, and the three parts of deltoid. The five exercises each subjects performed were:

Full can
Empty can
Prone elevation
External rotation with an elastic band
Prone external rotation
And the winner is…

Using the criteria that the best exercise to isolate and strengthen the supraspinatus should maximize supraspinatus activity while minimizing deltoid activity, the researchers determined that shoulder external rotation at 0° of abduction with an elastic band and prone external rotation were preferable. The research proved that there was:

No significant difference in the level of supraspinatus activation for all exercises
No significant difference in activation levels across all muscles during the “can” exercises
Significantly less deltoid activation during the external rotation exercises
Greater infraspinatus activation than supraspinatus during the external rotation exercises
“In summary, clinicians should consider using TheraBand® exercise bands for resisted external rotation and isotonic prone shoulder external rotation exercises because they preferentially activate the supraspinatus and infraspinatus without activating the deltoid, which may be more beneficial for patients with impingement.” (Boettcher CE et al. 2009).

Also worth noting is that these data and recommendations reflect a population with normal dominant shoulder function. A patient or athlete without healthy shoulder function may need addition help and rehabilitation before reaching this point. Mold your training programs to each individual’s abilities!

Source:

Boettcher CE et al. 2009. Which is the optimal exercise to strengthen supraspinatus? Med Sci Sports Exerc. 41(11):1979-83.