The Centre For Contemporary Dentistry

Growing Bone is Like Growing a Garden

It might surprise you to know that your dentist has a green thumb—sort of. I am not referring to begonias or radishes, but dentists use their expertise and modern science to help your body grow a substance that is vitally important to your dental health—bone.

You can lose bone because you have a poor-fitting denture, a tooth injury or a developmental defect. Inadequate bone can also be caused by periodontal disease or some other infection.

Without adequate bone we cannot place an implant and restore your beautiful smile. An implant is a metal post that is inserted into your jawbone and onto which we place an artificial tooth.

Today, we can help your jawbone regain that precious commodity through a process called "bone augmentation" or a "bone graft." There are essentially four bone augmentation procedures:

Socket graft: Sometimes a tooth socket does not properly fill in and heal itself after a tooth extraction. We fill the socket with bone or a special material immediately after your tooth is removed. This encourages your body to grow more bone. [top image]

Sinus lift: If we put an implant in the bone below a sinus, the implant post could protrude into the sinus space because the bone of the sinus floor may be too thin for the length of the implant post. In this procedure we put a bone graft or a special material on the floor of the sinus to make it thicker. Your body then gets busy and makes new bone. [middle image]

Bone graft: We might use this procedure if your jawbone receded because of periodontal disease or another infection or condition. We can restore bone height and width by adding bone or other material to the area. Your body does the rest of the rebuilding work. [bottom image]

Ridge expansion: There are times when we need to split the jawbone ridge and pack bone or other grafting material into the slot to widen the ridge. This procedure could be used to make a removable denture fit more comfortably.

Bone augmentation is usually very successful. We are not always sure why a graft fails, but we do know that bone augmentation may not be successful for smokers and people with certain medical conditions.

If you are ready to improve your smile, please call and schedule an appointment. We can discuss your goals and then set out a treatment plan designed just for you. Stop in and admire our petunias!