Updating your smile from failing teeth usually calls for a big overhaul of your oral cavity. More likely than not, your dentist will recommend dental implants if you’re suffering from many missing teeth or failing dentition, because this is the most positive way to restore your smile, in a permanent and functional way. Unfortunately, what many patients do not realize is that you’ll need to be a candidate for implants, before they can be a viable option.
To be a candidate for dental implants, you’ll need to have strong, non-receding gum tissue as well as a dense jaw bone. If you’re lacking deficiency in either of these placing, you will require grafting. For a successful dental implant procedure, bone grafting is necessary, because it builds back your bone density to create a strong foundation for your implants to meld to.
The bone grafting procedure is when your doctor takes a piece of bone and places it in the jaw to create a stronger structure. When the bone is placed, the patient will go through a healing period where the bone fuses with the existing jawbone, creating a dense foundation once again. This foundation will allow for the implant to hold strong, and not fail. At the time you decide bone grafting is for you, your doctor will aid you in the bone grafting treatment and fill you in on the details surrounding the procedure.
Typically, a doctor will take a piece of bone from another part of the body, like the chin. If you choose to not use your own bone, there are other options to choose from:
- Autogenous (self-produced) bone comes from the person having the surgery and might be taken from the chin, or perhaps the hips.
- Block bone grafting is the process of cutting a piece of bone from another area of the body and implanting the area requiring the strong dental implant bone. It will need to be left for around three to six months before it will ready to take the tooth implant.
- Allograft bone comes from other human donors, usually cadavers.
If you’re ready for your perfect smile and are looking to go through dental implants, schedule a consultation with us. We will go over any necessary details with you for your procedure, and walk you through dental implants as a whole, along with your specific treatment plan.
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