Bone Grafting

BONE GRAFTING, FRISCO, TX, ORAL SURGEON, Dr. Mark Davis, DENTAL SPECIALIST

Major and Minor bone grafting

Over a period of time, the jawbone associated with missing teeth atrophies or is reabsorbed. This often leaves a condition in which there is poor quality and quantity of bone suitable for placement of dental implants. In these situations, most patients are not ideal candidates for placement of dental implants.

Today, at Frisco Oral & Dental Implant Surgery, we have the ability to place bone where needed. This not only gives us the opportunity to place implants of proper length and width, it also gives us a chance to better restore functionality and esthetic appearance.

Major Bone Grafting

Bone grafting can augment implant sites with inadequate bone structure due to previous extractions, gum disease or injuries. The bone is either obtained from a tissue bank or your own bone is taken from the jaw, hip or tibia (below the knee.) Sinus bone grafts are also performed to replace bone in the back upper jaw where molar teeth are located. In addition, special membranes may be utilized that dissolve under the gum tissue and protect the bone graft and encourage bone regeneration. This is called guided bone regeneration or guided tissue regeneration.

Major bone grafts are typically performed to repair defects of the jaws. These defects may arise as a result of traumatic injuries, tumor surgery, or congenital defects. Large defects are repaired using the patients own bone harvested from a different area. This bone is harvested from a number of different sites depending on the amount of bone needed. The skull (cranium), hip (iliac crest), and lateral knee (tibia), are common donor sites. These procedures are routinely performed in an operating room and require a hospital stay.

Sinus lift procedure

There is a solution and its called a sinus graft or sinus lift graft. The oral and maxillofacial surgeon enters the sinus from where the upper teeth used to be. The sinus membrane is then lifted upward and donor bone is inserted into the floor of the sinus. Keep in mind that the floor of the sinus is the roof of the upper jaw. After several months of healing, the bone becomes part of the patients jaw and dental implants can be surgically placed and stabilized in this new sinus bone.

The sinus graft makes it possible for many patients to have dental implants when years ago there was no other option other than wearing loose dentures.

If enough bone between the upper jaw ridge and the bottom of the sinus is available to stabilize the implant, sinus augmentations and implant placement can sometimes be performed as a single stage procedure. If not enough bone is available, the Sinus Augmentation will have to be performed first, then the graft will have to mature for several months, depending upon the type of bone graft material used. Once the bone graft has matured, the implants can be placed.