When you experience tooth loss, the missing space (or spaces) in your smile can lead to several negative consequences for your oral health and structures. For instance, the jawbone structure that supports and sustains your teeth roots can suffer from the lack of stimulation. Your bite overall can experience trouble as your remaining teeth struggle to maintain your bite’s balance. Because of these effects, bouncing back from tooth loss can sometimes be more complex than expected. For example, before you can receive dental implant posts to replace your lost teeth, you might require grafting to strengthen any jawbone structure that may have lost mass and density.
What jawbone grafting means
Jawbone grafting is the surgical procedure of bonding donor bone or biocompatible grafting material onto the affected area of your jawbone structure. A biocompatible grafting matrix can be applied to promote faster and more successful bonding to the jawbone, creating a natural solution for boosting its strength and integrity. This may be necessary if it’s been several years or more since you’ve experienced tooth loss.
The reduced stimulation caused by the reduced number of teeth roots in your jawbone can directly lead to a diminished flow of nutrient-rich blood to the structure. Over time, lack of nutrition causes the jawbone structure to resorb upon itself, starting in the areas where your teeth roots are no longer present. By grafting the weakened areas of the jawbone, we can help you rebuild its strength and bulk up its mass and density, which may be essential when preparing for dental implant placement.
Do you need grafting before dental implants?
When you want to rebuild your smile by replacing your lost teeth with dental implants, there are several considerations that must be accounted for first. Fortunately, most tooth loss patients are viable candidates for a dental implant-supported restoration. However, some conditions can impact the success of implant treatment, and the integrity of your jawbone structure is one of the most important of these conditions.
For dental implant posts to work, your jawbone structure has to bond to their surfaces as it heals following their placement. This requires an ample amount of jawbone structure to not only accept the posts and bond to them, but also to support the posts the way your jawbone supports natural teeth roots when you bite and chew on them. If your jawbone isn’t as strong, healthy, and dense as it once was, then we may recommend grafting the jawbone structure before placing your dental implant posts within it.
Learn more about jawbone grafting
Jawbone grafting may be an important part of restoring your smile with dental implants, especially if you’ve lost a significant amount of jawbone mass and density. To learn more, or to schedule a consultation, call Santa Rosa Oral Surgery in Santa Rosa, CA, today at 707-545-4625.
