When dental patients hear the words “you need a bone graft”, they naturally start to panic. Just the words alone elicit images of complex surgical procedures that are invasive and can be painful. The fact is, however, that dental bone grafts are a relatively common procedure and do not need to be met with the type of anxiety or fear that is usually associated with them.
Understanding why you might need graft and what the procedure entails should help you feel more comfortable with the procedure if it’s something you’ve been told that you need.
Why do I need a bone graft?
Your jaw bone is what holds your teeth in place. When you are missing a tooth or multiple teeth, the area of bone that is directly under the missing teeth no longer has a function, since it has no tooth or teeth to support. When this happens, the bone can begin to erode, creating an area that is hollowed out, or lower than the surrounding bone. If left alone, bone erosion can continue to spread and can compromise the strength of the surrounding bone, putting neighboring teeth in jeopardy, as well as the overall strength of your jaw bone.
One of the best ways to prevent bone loss in the jaw is to replace missing teeth as soon as possible. That is why if you have a tooth pulled (or it falls out), one of the best ways to not only restore the tooth but to preserve bone strength is by having a dental implant placed in your mouth. You can also replace a missing tooth with a bridge, which will provide a false tooth over the space of the missing tooth, but opting for this procedure will not provide you with the bone preserving advantages that dental implants will.
Are there different types of dental bone grafts?
Yes, not all graft are created equal. Most people only need a minor procedure to ensure that they will not lose bone when a tooth is extracted. During this type of procedure, an oral surgeon or properly trained dentist will pack the socket where the extracted tooth used to be with demineralized sterile human bone granules, covered by a protective membrane. The jaw bone will than naturally begin to fill in the area where the tooth socket was. Having a dental implant placed will help to preserve bone levels over the long term, although if you opt for a bridge instead to replace the missing tooth, some level of bone loss will occur over time.
For those people with greater bone loss, typically occurring as a result of one or more teeth that have been missing for a number of years, a more involved procedure may need to be performed. In this case, the gums are opened up with a small incision in the area where the bone graft will occur and a combination of demineralized sterile bone graft granules, along with shaved granules from the patient’s own jaw bone, will be put into place to build up the area. The area will be covered with a protective membrane, the gums will be closed up with a few stitches, and the healing will begin. It typically takes a few months for a dental bone graft to fully heal and during that process the graft will integrate with the surrounding bone tissue, building up the jaw bone. The bone that is taken from the patient in this type of graft is typically taken from the area around the wisdom teeth, but only small granules of bone are shaved off.
Only in cases of very severe bone loss, such as that which may occur after many years of a person having no teeth (usually in long-term denture wearers) will a more extensive bone graft procedure be required. In these cases, blocks of bone are removed from the patient’s jaw, hip or tibia and are anchored into place in the jaw using specialized screws and plates. This is a much more complex procedure, but thankfully, one that is not often necessary in most patients.
For more information about dental bone grafts, or to schedule an appointment with a dentist in Queens to discuss whether you are in need of a bone graft, contact Park Dental Care at 718-274-1515.
