Tooth loss does more than just leave a gap behind in your smile. Missing teeth could allow the jawbone itself to weaken, which could prevent you from being able to receive dental implants. But with a procedure known as a ridge augmentation, or grafting, your Santa Rosa, CA, oral surgeons can strengthen your smile!
Tooth Loss and Weakened Jawbone Structure
We could lose our natural teeth to factors like tooth decay, injury, or in most cases, periodontitis. When we lose our natural teeth, this leaves behind gaps in your smile that could increase the risk of complications like misalignment, TMJ disorder, and even bruxism (teeth grinding). As the body stops or diverts the flow of calcium and phosphorus to the areas without tooth roots, the bone structure breaks down to cause an aged appearance and further tooth loss. Eventually, this could be severe enough that there is not enough structure to support dental implants. But our team can help strengthen and rebuild the lower jaw with a ridge augmentation procedure.
Planning Treatment
To begin, our team will take a close look at the smile with digital x-ray and intraoral camera images, so we can understand the factors behind your tooth loss and assess the severity of your weakened jaw structure. From there, we can create a personalized treatment plan to rebuild the smile and make it ready for dental implant placement. We want to ensure your treatment experience is a comfortable one, which is why our team will administer a local anesthetic and could also offer sedation to help you enter a deep state of calm and relaxation, with little to no memory of the treatment experience at all.
The Grafting Procedure
When you are ready for the procedure, we will add new structure to the lower jaw. This could be taken from parts of your own body, or using donor or synthetic sources. We apply these new structures to help rebuild the weakened portions, so there is enough tissue to support the placement of dental implants. When the area heals, we will insert the dental implants, which helps stimulate jawbone growth to keep your smile intact and ensure your new teeth can last for years to come, possibly decades. If you have any questions about how our team will rebuild your jaw with grafting and replace missing teeth with dental implants, we can protect your smile.
Learn More About Ridge Augmentation in Santa Rosa, CA
We want to help you enjoy a full smile again, and we can strengthen your smile beforehand with grafting. To learn more about our surgical procedures or to schedule an appointment for a consultation, give us a call at Santa Rosa Oral Surgery at (707)545-4625 today!
