Lafayette Oral Surgery - Chandler and Kelley

Oral and maxillofacial surgery is one of the few dental specialties most patients reach by referral rather than by search. Your general dentist spots an impacted third molar on a panoramic film, or a molar fractured too far below the gum line to be pulled conventionally, or a jaw that does not close the way it should, and sends the case to a surgeon with hospital-level training. Drs. Chandler and Kelley practise that full scope on Starling Lane in south Lafayette: dental implant placement, wisdom tooth removal, corrective jaw surgery, and the extractions general offices prefer not to attempt.

The question in front of most people before they book has more to do with sedation and staging than with the surgery itself. Wisdom teeth are the common example. You can have all four out in one appointment under IV sedation and take a few days off, or remove only the symptomatic side under local anaesthetic and come back later. The staff here are trained to assist with IV sedation inside the office, which makes single-visit removal practical, but it also means arranging a driver, fasting beforehand and clearing a recovery day. For implants, the parallel decision is whether the surgeon places the fixture and your own dentist restores it, a split that is common, works well, and needs both offices to agree on the plan before anything goes into bone.

Dual-degree training is what separates this kind of practice from a general office that also pulls teeth. Dr. Clay Chandler holds both dental and medical degrees, and the surgical range reflects that: pathology and biopsy work, facial trauma, bone grafting to rebuild a ridge that has resorbed after years without a tooth, and orthognathic surgery for patients whose bite problems are skeletal rather than orthodontic. Complex cases are usually planned jointly with an orthodontist, since jaw surgery sits in the middle of a longer alignment sequence rather than standing alone.

Scheduling here favours early risers. The office opens at 7:30am Monday through Thursday and at 6:30am on Friday, closing at 2pm, which is a genuinely useful slot if you want a wisdom tooth appointment finished before a weekend of rest. Starling Lane keeps the practice inside the 70508 corridor and within a short drive for patients coming from Broussard, Youngsville or Carencro. If you were referred, bring the film your dentist already took; a duplicate scan is not always necessary, and skipping one keeps both radiation exposure and cost down.