Dental bone grafting is sometimes necessary, particularly if your jawbone isn’t strong enough for dental implant surgery. You may also need dental bone grafting when removing wisdom teeth. Here’s what you need to understand about dental bone grafting — why it is sometimes necessary for a variety of oral surgery procedures.
Over time, bone volume at the site of missing teeth will diminish. Frequently, this results in a lack of adequate bone for dental implant surgery. Current technology allows bone to be regrown in order to place implants in the best position for aesthetics and function. Dr. Puckett utilizes a number of dental bone grafting techniques based upon the needs of your case. Grafting options and specific details are discussed during the consultation appointment. Grafting procedures routinely performed include:
- Socket preservation – addition of bone to an extraction site to preserve bone volume. Addition of grafting material to an extraction site will reduce the rate of natural bone shrinkage once a tooth is removed. This procedure will help prepare the site for an implant.
- Sinus grafting – addition of bone adjacent to the sinus to regenerate bone for implant placement. At times, with the removal of upper molars, additional bone height is needed to plan for an implant. Dr. Puckett has been utilizing a minor bone grafting technique for many years to increase the bone height through the extraction site – osteotome sinus grafting. Performing the graft at the time of tooth removal routinely prevents to need for additional grafting when the implant is placed. This saves our patients additional discomfort and minimizes cost. At times we need to regenerate a significant amount of bone for implant placement at upper posterior teeth sites.
- Ridge augmentation – addition of bone in an area of the jaws when bone volume has diminished. Bone loss can occur in both horizontal and vertical dimensions. At the time of evaluation, Dr. Puckett will perform an oral examination and obtain a 3-D CT, and combine all of the information to determine the sites and extent of bone volume loss. At that time an appropriate plan can be formulated to restore your teeth and function.
Need a Wisdom Teeth Bone Graft?
A wisdom teeth bone graft is uncommon, but not out of the question. Most of our patients will not need it when having their wisdom teeth removed. If it should be necessary, understand that a wisdom teeth bone graft is a simple painless procedure that’s not nearly as scary as it sounds.
Oral surgeons usually do some sort of dental bone grafting following a tooth extraction. This is done to preserve jawbone density, which is of particular importance for patients who plan to get dental implants.
But wisdom teeth are the one form of tooth extraction for which we don’t suggest tooth replacement.
But sometimes a wisdom teeth bone graft is necessary after third molar extraction to provide neighboring second molars with adequate jawbone support. This is particularly true if an impacted wisdom tooth grows horizontally and causes substantial jawbone loss near the adjacent teeth. You may form a cyst in the third molar area and destroy much of the surrounding bone.
In either of these situations, we’d recommend wisdom teeth bone grafting. The good news is it’s a quick and painless procedure that has a quick recovery time.