The Reason for Bone Grafting
If you have one or more missing teeth or have had a tooth extracted, it’s important to restore proper bone levels in your jaw. As the foundation of your smile, your bone plays a vital role in your oral health and function. It supports your teeth and helps preserve your facial structure. But it needs the stimulation of tooth roots to remain dense and strong. When teeth are extracted or lost, the jawbone no longer receives stimulation and will resorb and shrink. Bone loss can lead to shifting and loosening of remaining teeth, loss of lip and cheek support, and jaw joint problems. Without enough bone support, you may not be able to replace your teeth with dentures or dental implants.
To help ensure that these functional and aesthetic consequences do not occur or worsen, our periodontist at Avason Family Dentistry offers bone grafting in Denver, NC. A specialist in gum health and dental implants, he has advanced training in oral surgeries like bone grafting, with the experience to complete this procedure the day your dental implants are placed. Designed to restore jawbone volume or density that has been lost due to missing teeth, bone grafting ultimately improves your oral health and function.
The Process for Restoring Lost Bone
Bone grafting is a surgical procedure that involves placing dental bone graft material in areas where the bone has resorbed, or a tooth has been extracted. Our periodontist, Dr. Frank Avason is experienced in traditional bone grafting and certified to offer the S.M.A.R.T.® bone grafting technique. One of only a few clinicians trained in this procedure, he provides this as a minimally invasive alternative to conventional grafting to restore the proper density, height, and width of the bone in the jaw. We partner with multiple insurance providers to make your treatment affordable and achievable. In general, bone grafting treatment may involve one or more of the following procedures:
- Ridge Augmentation
- Sinus Lift
- Socket Preservation
Tooth and bone loss in a jaw ridge makes the bone too narrow and weak to support a dental implant bridge. We’ll restore the natural contours and density of an entire ridgeline or provide localized treatment to preserve a tooth socket after extraction.
Bone loss in the back part of the upper arch (under the sinus cavity) leaves it too shallow to support a dental implant. We’ll place bone material beneath this membrane to raise the sinus floor and restore proper bone height below.
Socket preservation is a bone grafting procedure our periodontist completes after tooth extraction. This involves packing bone graft material into the empty tooth socket. Socket preservation slows the resorption process where the tooth is missing. It can also help preserve the health of the bone until a dental implant can be placed.
The Benefits of Bone Grafting
Bone grafting seems like just a functional treatment meant to improve your oral health. But this treatment also has more widespread benefits. Tooth and bone loss can lead to numerous problems that affect your ability to eat, your oral and physical health, and your personal wellbeing. By restoring bone levels in your jaw, our Denver, NC team can treat infection and disease and replace missing teeth with restorations like dental bridges and dentures as well as prepare you for dental implants. Having a smile restored to proper function and aesthetics can significantly improve your confidence, health, and quality of life!
Suffering from jawbone loss?
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