A dental implant can permanently restore the form and function of a missing natural tooth. But there’s an important prerequisite for this smile-transforming therapy — you must have enough bone remaining at the implant site to securely anchor the implant and ensure proper crown placement for the most natural looking result.
Patients who don’t meet this prerequisite may need to consider other restorative options. In some cases, however, we may be able to encourage sufficient bone growth to support an implantation through a technique called bone grafting.
Bone grafting involves opening the gum tissues at the intended implant site to expose the underlying bone. We then place the grafting material (usually a processed material) around the bone, sometimes with collagen membranes that serve as subterranean band-aids to guide bone growth. In most cases, the graft is actually a scaffold for the natural bone to grow upon; the natural bone will eventually replace the graft material. The procedure is normally performed with local anesthesia to minimize discomfort.
While bone grafting is a fairly routine procedure, it shouldn’t be undertaken unless there’s a firm prognosis it can successfully support a future implant. We must therefore determine if anything else in your oral health would disqualify you as an implant candidate, even if sufficient bone existed or not. We must also determine if there’s enough remaining bone currently at the site to even attach a bone graft.
Once we’re satisfied that bone grafting would be both possible and helpful, we must then consider what type of grafting material to use. If we’re only replacing one tooth we may choose to use an autograft, bone material taken from another area of your own body. Although autografts have advantages because of their regeneration ability, it does involve creating another surgical site within the body. In most cases we may use processed materials, for example allografts, material that originates from another human being; xenografts, taken from another species of animal; or synthetic (man-made) materials. Regardless of the source, these materials are first processed to be safe for human use.
If successful, the regeneration process will result in enough new bone structure to make dental implants a reality. Your mouth will be healthier — and your resulting smile will be more beautiful than ever.
If you would like more information on bone grafting, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can also learn more about this topic by reading the Dear Doctor magazine article “Can Dentists Rebuild Bone?”
