Candidacy for Dental Implants
A common reason to delay dental implants is inadequate density of the jawbone.
At Full Mouth Implants, treatment is available to improve your eligibility for dental implants. The most common avenue by which to improve candidacy is a local bone graft that will increase the mass of your jawbone.
Advantages of Bone Grafts
A bone graft is a procedure that uses a sample of healthy bone material, collected from your body or a donor, to restore another bone that is damaged or weakened. For the purposes of dentistry, bone grafts are primarily used to augment the density of your jawbone in order to prepare it for dental implants. Your existing bone is stimulated by a bone graft to heal naturally and merge with the new tissue, increasing in strength and density.
Bone grafting is a minimally invasive and extremely safe procedure. If your jawbone has depleted in mass due to age or as the result of wear from dentures or eating with missing teeth, a bone graft can be completed in one appointment to restore robust jawbone health.
Healing time will vary depending on the size of your graft. After an appropriate recovery period, you’ll be eligible to receive dental implants with the certainty that your jawbone is prepared to efficiently integrate the titanium posts.
The Bone Grafting Process
Your graft will be completed in the following stages:
- A sample of healthy bone tissue is taken from a donor site picked on your body or from a bank of donated bone matter.
- You’ll receive appropriate sedation and local numbing agents to ensure that you’re relaxed and experience no pain for the duration of the procedure.
- Your dentist will make an incision in your gums to expose the grafting site on your jawbone.
- Donor bone matter will be grafted to the site and covered with a collagen membrane to protect the graft and stimulate regeneration.
- Your incision will be sutured closed and your completed bone graft can begin healing .
After your procedure, your dentist will advise you on pain management options and prescribe a medicated rinse to prevent infection.
Procedures for Extraction Site Preservation
An extraction site preservation procedure is a category of bone graft used to stimulate jawbone growth directly following tooth extraction. This treatment is used to ensure healthy bone density for a dental implant that will take the place of an extracted tooth.
Immediately after the extraction of your tooth, a bone substitute will be grafted to the exposed socket and covered with a barrier membrane. The socket is then closed with sutures to allow for a healing period of about 30 days. Similar to typical bone grafts on the jaw bone, the process promotes increased bone density and better allows for healthy integration with dental implants.
Ensure Your Candidacy for Dental Implants
A consultation with the experts at Full Mouth Implants will determine whether a bone graft can increase your candidacy for a beautiful new smile with dental implants. Make an appointment today by calling our office servicing Palm Beach -County, Martin County, and St. Lucie County, FL at (561) 627-5560