Should we find you don’t have enough healthy bone to support one or more implants, we can perform a procedure called a bone graft. This procedure involves grafting your own bone, or using donor bone or a synthetic material, to build the bone in the jaw, in preparation for dental implants.
Why does jawbone disappear?
The jawbone requires constant stimulation in order to stay healthy and present. When you lose a tooth, or several teeth, the resorption process (loss of jawbone) begins. Over a number of years, jawbone loss can result in aesthetic changes that age the face, such as loss of volume in the cheeks, excess wrinkles and a protruding chin.
Jawbone loss can also occur as a result of periodontitis (advanced gum disease), during which the bone shrinks away before tooth loss even has a chance to manifest itself.
So, with this in mind, it’s incredibly important that you replace missing teeth with dental implants and keep on top of your oral health routine, if you wish to preserve a healthy jawbone. If you present with a lack of jawbone to support implants, don’t worry as we can help by performing a bone graft.
A bone graft considerably increases the likelihood of tooth replacement treatment with dental implants.
The procedure
Given the space to do so, bone is capable of regenerating completely. Once native bone begins to grow, it will replace the grafted bone, resulting in fully integrated new bone. It generally takes a matter of months for bone grafts to become reabsorbed by the body and replaced with new, natural bone. Once this is the case, you’re ready to start the dental implants process, for healthier-looking and more functional teeth.
