Supporting Dental Implants and Restorations through Oral Surgery
Dental Implants and other dental restoration procedures depend on having a solid bone structure to support them, or they simply will not function as intended. If you have unfortunately been the victim of gum disease, major trauma, or have other issues where proper treatment or sufficient efforts were not made to preserve the natural bone structure of your mouth and jaw in association with other extensive dental work, a bone graft or bone augmentation may be necessary to restore the structural integrity of your jaw.
Thankfully, there are several dental techniques which can be employed to rebuild the bone in your jaw and restore a natural looking jaw line and smile. Bone grafts and bone augmentation also provide a strong foundation for future dental restorations as well. Your dentist will advise you if they intend on using dental implants as part of your restoration which may require bone augmentation or grafting prior to your implant procedure.
Here is a brief overview of three of the most common oral surgery procedures which involve augmentation of bone:
Bone Grafts
This is one of the most commonly employed bone augmentation procedures, and involves the gradual building up of the jaw line by supplementing the local bone with either natural bone taken from another location or a synthetic substitute. After the grafts fully fuse and integrate themselves into the underlying bone structure, your dental implant or restoration procedure can begin.
Sinus Lifts
Another extremely common form of oral surgery is the sinus lift. When teeth are missing from the upper part of a patient’s rear jaw for too long a period of time, the sinus cavity enlarges as the teeth and bone gradually shift to fill the empty space. Sinus lifts can counteract this effect and provide a firm and stable area in which to place an implants.
Ridge Modifications
In some cases your natural jaw may be too narrow to support a full set of implants. In cases like these, your dentist will use a small amount of bone or synthetic graft material to create a ridge along the top of your jaw. This ridge provides the additional space necessary to successfully place dental implants.
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Depending on how severe the damage to your jaw or mouth is, an oral surgery procedure such as bone grafting and bone augmentation may be able to significantly repair the damage. Your dentist will discuss the best treatment options for your particular dental health condition.
