Bone Grafting
Chino Valley, AZ
 Using bone grafting techniques, Granite View Dental offers a range of treatments to help rebuild the jaw after reconstructive surgery, trauma, and bone loss for patients who want to have dental implants. Find out how this common procedure can help.
What is Bone Grafting?
Bone grafting is used to transplant healthy bone tissue into damaged bone. After a bone graft, new cells grow in the transplanted area promoting new growth to increase the volume of bone. Bone tissue may be harvested from elsewhere on your body or from a donor, as well as from animal tissue.
In dentistry, synthetic material is often used if there is bone loss in the jaw to augment the bone, which is important for dental restorations. After a few months, there is often sufficient new bone to allow for a dental implant to be inserted to replace a missing tooth.
What is the Cause of Bone Loss in the Jaw?
There may be several reasons for bone loss in the jaw, but periodontitis is one of the most common reasons. This is an advanced form of gum disease that has progressed from compromising the gums and soft tissues to the bone. As the disease advances, more bone is lost so that eventually the tooth is lost too. This presents difficulties for patients who want to replace a missing tooth with a dental implant because if there is not enough bone to hold a tooth then there is not enough bone to hold an implant either.
It is not just tooth loss caused by periodontal disease that causes bone loss. Tooth loss from an accident also affects the bone. In fact, as soon as a tooth is lost, the empty tooth socket begins to be resorbed by the surrounding bone, so that within a year up to 25% of bone mass is lost. Furthermore, new bone cells are stimulated by the act of chewing and biting. If there is no tooth root or implant in contact with the bone, it atrophies through lack of use and deteriorates further.
Can I Prevent Bone Loss?
One of the easiest ways of preventing bone loss is to have a good daily oral health routine with twice-daily brushing and flossing to keep gum disease at bay. Supplemented with regular visits to the dentist this is an effective way of ensuring the health of your mouth in order to preserve the soft tissues and jawbone.
While we all know that accidents happen, if you are involved in contact sports, you may want to consider wearing a mouth guard to protect your teeth from injury. Over-the-counter mouth guards are available, but we can arrange for you to have a tailor-made one that will offer you the best comfort and protection.
Bone grafting is nothing to be afraid of and is a common dental procedure. A bone graft requires between four to 12 months to heal, after which your dental implant can be safely placed.
We can help answer any of your questions regarding bone grafting. Get in touch with us at Granite View Dental to find out more by calling us at (928) 589-1776.
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