Bone Grafting for Dental Implants
Tooth loss is a serious problem that can make it difficult to speak clearly, chew effectively, and feel good about your appearance. Missing teeth can also lead to bone loss in the jaw, causing other teeth to shift, increasing your risk of tooth decay and periodontal disease, and changing your natural facial shape.
If you’re ready to restore a missing tooth, our dentists can help. Using a dental implant and bone grafting if necessary, we can restore your tooth, improve your oral health, and increase your long-term quality of life.
How Do Dental Implants Work?
When you want a permanent, natural-looking solution to missing teeth, dental implants are the best treatment available.
A dental implant is a biocompatible titanium post your dentist places in the jawbone. As the tissue heals, it fuses to the post. This process stimulates new bone growth, which helps maintain your natural face shape and promotes good oral health.
After a few months of healing, you’ll return to our dental office so that we can place a dental crown on top. This restoration completes the tooth and allows it to function normally again.
Why Do I Need Bone Grafting?
For a dental implant to be successful, a certain amount of bone must exist in the jaw to completely surround the implant. The bone gives the dental implant stability and strength to support the forces of chewing.
In certain situations, you may not have enough bone where the tooth used to be, either due to genetics or gradual bone reabsorption that occurs when a tooth is missing. However, our dentist can add bone to the area in a procedure called bone grafting.
What Is the Bone Grafting Process?
When you meet with our dentists about dental implant treatment, we will use imaging diagnostics to determine how much bone you have in your jaw. If you lack enough bone to support an implant, we will discuss a bone grafting treatment plan with you.
In the bone grafting procedure, your dentist will add special bone grafting material to your jawbone. If the amount of bone needed is minor, we may be able to place the dental implant in the same procedure. If not, you’ll return to our oral surgery office in a few months, after the area has time to heal.
The timing of placing the dental implant after the bone grafting is important to avoid bone reabsorption, and your dentist will schedule your dental implant procedure with that in mind.
Who Is a Good Candidate for Bone Grafting?
While dental implants are fast becoming the treatment of choice for replacing missing teeth, some patients may not be good candidates for either implants or bone grafting. In these cases, we may recommend a dental bridge or another restoration treatment.
The best way to find out if you’re a good candidate for bone grafting or dental implants is to visit our dental office for a tooth replacement evaluation. Call to schedule an appointment today!
Frequently Asked Questions
Dental implants are the gold standard for teeth replacement, providing a long-term, reliable solution. However, if the bone in your jaw is degenerative or genetically thin, the dental implant may fail. An oral surgery specialist can perform bone grafting in the area so that the dental implant has a strong support.
Bone needs stimulation to grow, and if a tooth is missing, the body begins to reabsorb bone in the empty space. This process can result in facial hollowness, changes to your gum line, and even misalignment of other teeth.
One of the main benefits of dental implants is that it stimulates bone growth in the area of the missing tooth. In this process, called osseointegration, the post of the dental implant fuses with the jawbone, causing new bone growth around the post and better oral health.
If you don’t have enough bone in the area of a missing tooth, an oral surgery specialist can perform a bone graft using your own tissue or a biocompatible synthetic material. The bone graft will stimulate new bone cell growth and allow you to benefit from a dental implant.
Bone grafting is a routine procedure that requires local anesthesia and sometimes sedation, if needed. An oral surgery specialist can tell you if you’re a good candidate.
Meet Our Doctor:
Dr. Abbasali Hassanali
Dr. Abbasali Hassanali is a certified specialist in periodontology and implant surgery. He completed his undergraduate training in cell and molecular biology at the University of Toronto followed by his Doctor of Dental Surgery Degree at the very same institution. He subsequently completed his MSc and advanced specialty training in periodontics and implant surgery, also at the University of Toronto. His research focused on protein biochemistry, cell biology, and matrix dynamics has been published and presented at several international meetings.
Dr. Hassanali provides the full scope ...