A dental implant treatment can be quite involved, so your oral surgeon in Coppell will do everything they can to plan for success! This includes performing a thorough oral examination to see if you would benefit from preliminary treatments like bone grafting.
If you’re thinking, “Wait, what’s bone grafting?” don’t worry; not many people know about this rather specific solution. Keep reading, and you’ll learn not just what a bone graft is, but also why you might need one.
What is A Bone Graft?
Put simply, a bone graft is taking organic bone material from one source and adding it to another one. In oral surgery specifically, this most often means adding material to a patient’s jawbone.
Why You Might Need a Bone Graft
Since dental implants are designed to fuse with the jawbone, it’s really important for patients to have enough density to support them properly. A bone graft, in essence, can make a thin or weak mandible much denser and stronger, enabling a patient to successfully support dental implant restorations when they otherwise couldn’t. If one of the following conditions applies to you, your oral surgeon might very well recommend this treatment.
Advanced Stages of Gum Disease
There’s a good reason why experts say you should address bleeding or swollen gums right away. While this infection primarily targets the gums, it can also spread to infect the jawbone and cause deterioration.
Missing Teeth
It’s safe to say that if you’re considering dental implants, you’re missing a tooth or two. Over time, dental gaps actually cause jawbone loss. Because there isn’t a tooth and root system in place to transfer chewing pressure to the bone, it can’t get the circulation it needs to sustain itself. Fortunately, a bone graft can compensate for this type of jawbone loss.
You’ve Experienced Physical Trauma
It’s possible to lose a tooth if you collide with something hard enough, and it’s also possible to damage your jawbone. If a past injury fractured or otherwise weakened the bone, you might very well need some additional density.
For many people, a bone graft is the key to long-term success and a lasting restoration. With a firm foundation, your dental implants could very well go the distance for decades. That’s a lifetime of eating good food, having easy conversations, and smiling brightly!
About the Author
Dr. J. Darrell Steele has decades of hands-on oral surgery experience and is a proud member of the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. He was fascinated with dental implants early on in his career, and like many oral surgeons, considers them to be the “gold standard” of tooth replacements. If Dr. Steele can help you receive dental implants with a bone graft, he would be happy to put his skills to use and support your treatment journey! To contact his office and schedule an appointment, call 972-315-3355.
