Dental Implant Bone Grafting – When Do You Need It?

Dental Implant Bone Grafting – When Do You Need It?

With dental implants, you can have tooth loss treated with a reliable and permanent solution. Implants function like normal tooth roots, ensuring that your smile is restored both aesthetically and functionally. In some cases, you can have implants placed into the healthy bone in the jaw without any initial procedure. But if you’ve lost some bone over time, or if there’s not enough bone to support an implant, you might need dental implant bone grafting.

What is bone graft dental treatment, and when do you need it? Let’s look at the details and get you ready for your consultation at Peninsula Oral and Facial Surgery.

Why is Dental Implant Bone Grafting Necessary?

To understand why dental implant bone grafting is sometimes necessary, we have to consider the fundamentals of dental implant treatment.

Dental implants are custom-made posts that are implanted into the jawbone. Typically made from titanium, they function almost identically to natural tooth roots. When an implant is placed, the tissue heals around the implant to form new bone. This process is called osseointegration. When fully healed, implants stabilize and are permanently in place, just like natural roots. Prosthetic teeth or denture systems are then attached to the dental implants.

For this to work, there needs to be sufficient bone along the ridge. If the bone is lacking, the implant will not have the adequate foundation to support a prosthetic tooth or denture. The implant will be loose, the tissue around it can become infected, and the restoration will be unsuccessful.

With the use of advanced 3 Dimensional imaging technology your surgeon will be able to determine whether there is enough foundational bone in your jaw for the placement of dental implants. If there is not enough bone, your surgeon will walk you through treatment options for dental implant bone grafting to reliably and predictably build back the necessary bone for dental implant placement.

What is Bone Graft Dental Treatment?

Now you know why bone grafting for implants might be necessary. So what is bone graft dental treatment exactly?

Although it might seem complex, bone grafting for implants is actually quite straightforward. In a procedure done before your dental implants are placed, your surgeon will add grafting materials below the soft tissue (your gums), so that it remodels and forms new bone along the ridge.

Grafting material can be sourced from your own bone somewhere else in your body, from a human donor, or from animal tissue. The type of grafting material will be discussed during your consultation at the dental office. If you have any objection to donor materials, then autograft options will be explored.

Donor materials used for ridge augmentation and sinus augmentation are processed to remove living tissue, so that your body does not recognize them as foreign. They will act as a scaffold and a signal system for your body to grow back its own bone.

Ridge Augmentation vs. Sinus Augmentation

A bone graft for dental implants will typically fall under ridge augmentation or sinus augmentation.

• Ridge augmentation is a procedure designed to add bone to the ridge of your jaw, i.e. the tissue that supports your bottom teeth, or top teeth up to the final molars.
• Sinus augmentation targets the back teeth at the roof of your mouth. Grafting material will be placed into the sinus cavity where the bone is typically very thin.

Whether considering ridge augmentation or sinus augmentation, the actual outcome of the procedure is similar. Bone grafting material will be packed around existing tissue so that it can remodel into new bone, ready to support dental implants.

How Long Does it Take to Heal From a Bone Graft for Dental Implants?

The healing time for a bone graft for dental implants will depend on your body’s natural healing, the location of the bone graft and the size of the bone graft.

It usually takes between three and nine months to heal after having a bone graft for dental implants. The soft tissue will heal first, so you’ll be comfortable throughout the majority of this period. The rest of the healing happens below the gum, as bone develops.

Once new bone forms, you’ll be ready to have dental implants placed.

Bone Grafting for Implants – The Key Information to Remember

If you are considering dental implants then you might need to prepare to have bone grafting for implants. You’ll learn whether you need dental implant bone grafting in your initial consultation.

• Bone grafting for implants is needed when there isn’t enough bone in the jaw to support healthy dental implants.
• In these cases, a bone graft for dental implants increases the success rate and survivability of implants.
• Bone grafting for implants requires healing, which usually takes between three and nine months.
• There are options for grafting materials which will be discussed in your consultation.
• Not every patient will need bone grafting for implants.

If you have a thin ridge, if the bone has deteriorated after tooth loss, or if you need upper molar implants, then you’ll likely need dental implant bone grafting. You can book a consultation to learn about your options for tooth restoration with a bone graft for dental implants.

Book Your Appointment and Learn More About Dental Implant Bone Grafting

You can get the best treatment for tooth loss at Peninsula Oral and Facial Surgery. Learn more about dental implant bone grafting, explore your treatment options, and allow our expert team to restore your smile so that it is fully functional, comfortable, and flawlessly beautiful.