Dental bone grafting is necessary when there is a deficiency of natural bone in the mouth to support dental implants. This deficiency can be caused by developmental defects, gum disease, face injury or trauma, or empty space after teeth were removed.
There are several types of dental bone grafts. The best solution depends on the damage that needs to be repaired and the location of the lost tooth.
Dental bone grafts are a fairly common procedure, they are safe and a great long-term solution for someone who has lost a tooth due to periodontal disease, injury, or another type of dental or mouth infection.
Dental bone grafting is a minorly invasive surgical procedure that helps grow new bone that was destroyed or replace the unhealthy or missing bone with new bone.
The graft may be taken from another area of the body or created through synthetic or other materials. It usually consists of processed bone minerals that help your body create new bone cells over time.
Dental bone grafts are usually an outpatient procedure. The procedure is typically done before a dental implant/tooth replacement and usually doesn’t cause any, if very little, pain through the procedure and the healing process.
Your dentist will usually give you antibiotics to prevent infection and, in some cases, pain medication. However, pain medication usually isn’t necessary as most patients don’t feel any pain.
A dental bone graft is usually the first step to dental implants. Once the dental bone graft is complete, your dentist must wait for the new bone to fuse with the natural bones in your mouth before they can complete the process. This timeframe is different for everyone but shouldn’t take longer than a month or two.