Gum And Bone Grafts For Periodic Dental Problems & Tooth Implants
Dental implants are a fantastic way to improve your smile and fix any niggling imperfections – and usually there is no medical reason why you shouldn’t have dental implants. However if you have suffered some bone loss in your jaw, sometimes this can add an unexpected cost to your dental work. This is because dental implants need a decent breadth and depth of bone to be able to hold them in place securely, and bone loss inhibits or prevents the implant from holding in place. If this happens then normal activities like biting and chewing put pressure on the implants, and this could cause damage or breakage. But why would I have lost bone from my jaw? That’s simple – we lose bone as a result of losing teeth. After you lose a tooth, or have it extracted, around 30-60% of the remaining bone around the socket can be lost. If you then suffer oral disease, this can contribute significantly to even more bone loss. But there is a really simple way to avoid this. Instead of waiting, we suggest that you have the implant set and fitted at the same time as your tooth is extracted, in order to avoid extra grafting. If you do need grafting work to be done then don’t panic – this is a perfectly normal and routine procedure. But we can’t tell if you do or don’t need grafting (or how much you need) without performing x-rays. When assessing what your requirements are, we will look at the extent of your bone loss and the grafting work needed. If there is a large amount then we may recommend the grafting procedure be carried out as a preliminary operation, before the fitting of the actual implant. If this is the case then you will need to wait an additional six months before your implant can be fitted. This is so that the bone can regenerate and give the implant a solid anchorage point. However in most cases we are able to combine any existing bone regeneration with the implant procedure, using synthetic materials to build up the bone to a satisfactory point. If actual bone is required for the grafting, then we will harvest this from another part of the jaw. The entire procedure is carried out under local anaesthetic combined with oral sedation – so that you won’t feel pain or anxiety during the operation.
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