Dental Implant Bone Grafting And Growth
In a person considering a dental implant, bone must be strong and dense enough to hold the implant. If it is not, bone can be grafted in or grown to fill the gaps. A common area for this to occur is in the sinuses above the upper molars, where bone graft or stimulated bone growth is often performed.
Dental implant bone for grafting may be grafted from other parts of the person having the surgery, or may be introduced from a donor. Dental implant bone grafting or growing can add considerable time to an implant procedure and there are several methods.
Alternatively, bone may be grown using, again, bone gathered from donors or by stimulating the natural bone growth of the individual. In promoting bone growth, barrier membranes can be used to keep tissue away from the bone growing site to prevent the faster growing surrounding tissue taking over and hampering the bone growth.
Different bone types might be used in preparing the dental implant bone. Autogenous (self-produced) bone comes from the person having the surgery and might be taken from the chin, or perhaps the hips. Block bone grafting is the process of cutting a piece of bone from another area of the body and implanting the area requiring the strong dental implant bone. It will need to be left for around three to six months before it will ready to take the tooth implant.
Allograft bone comes from other human donors, usually cadavers. Xenograft bone comes from donors of another species, for example, the cow. Again, there will be a long healing period before the bone is ready to take the new tooth.
Bone expansion is when special bone expanding tools are used to literally prise apart the bone in the jaw in the area that dental implant bone is required. It may then be filled with bone to provide a thicker, stronger bone, or the implant may be inserted straight away.
Where grafts, growth or expansion may not be suitable for dental implant bone preparation, the option is to install plates alongside the existing bone.
Regardless of the procedure of preparing dental implant bone, it will likely be a long and expensive process. As with any kind of surgery, you should make sure that dental implant bone surgery is carried out by a fully qualified practitioner.
