Dental Bone Graft During Dental Implant Surgery

The necessity for a dental bone graft depends on the jaw bone anatomy. Replacing missing bone or adding mass to existing bone is often essential to the success of a dental implant. An implant needs a critical mass of bone surrounding it in order to bind (oseointgrate) to it and deliver sufficient strength and stability.

If in the location where the implants sre intended there is low mass of bone (width or height) a bone graft must be applied in order to maintain this critical bone mass.

Lack of height or width of the bone might have been caused by:

• missing teeth – with no teeth in the bone the tissue is not stimulated and there fore bone absorption accrues over time.
• Trauma – any incident causing bone loss.
• periodontal Disease or infection that affected the bone mass.
• Genetics - simply being born with that specific jaw bone anatomy.

The dental bone graft procedure usually takes place during implant surgery. During this process while the bone is exposed bone graft material is added to the site. B-graft material looks like graded cheese or "white colored parmesan".

There are 3 typical types of bone graft material:

• Autogenous – meaning using the patients own bone that is taken from other areas in the mouth as the dentist collects it while he drills into the bone to prepare the site for the dental implants. In some rare cases bone is taken from areas outside the mouth (hip) – but that procedures is preformed at a hospital. this type of bone grafting is expected to give the best results.

• xenograft – bone taken from cow. Sounds a bit disgusting but this is a very common source. This bone is harvested under very strict supervision and It is very safe.

After applying the bone graft material , a membrane is placed to hold the material in place. the membrane holds the material in place preventing soft tissue to blend in .enabling the material to regenerate and form new bone tissue(the membrane is absorbed into the body after a few weeks).
The incision is then closed up. And our patient is on his way home.

Return from Dental Bone Graft back to Procedures

Return from Dental Bone Graft back to Home