If you are receiving dental implants to restore one or several of your teeth, you may benefit from a bone grafting procedure. This common treatment can provide your implant with the support it requires for years of use in the future.
Midland Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery has extensive experience in bone grafting. As specialists, our doctors have received years of additional training to perform this procedure. Patients benefit from our precise, gentle, and skilled care with comfortable and predictable outcomes.
What Is Bone Grafting?
The bone beneath your gums will have the job of keeping your dental implant securely in place. In some cases, however, patients don’t have enough bone, or the bone that they do have may be weakened. Your oral surgeon uses bone grafting to add bone to areas of need.
In years past, bone grafting required taking material from one part of your body and moving it to where you would receive the implant. The downside to this approach was that you’d have two areas that would need to heal.
Our practice does not take bone from your body but instead uses readily available and highly predictable donor bone for grafts. By introducing and shaping this material into surgical sites, we can restore your jaw’s strength and stability.
Types of Bone Grafting Procedures
Our doctors usually conduct bone grafting to support treatment with dental implants. However, patients may require different types of grafts, depending on their needs. Some of these procedures are described below, and with each:
- You can receive IV sedation, which will allow you to sleep comfortably throughout the experience.
- Your oral surgeon will use resorbable sutures that will go away on their own within 5-9 days.
- Initial healing takes about 2 weeks and complete healing about 3-4 months. Patients report that they are comfortable during their healing time.
Preliminary Bone Grafting
During your initial visit to Midland OMFS, your doctor may determine that the site for your dental implant doesn’t have enough supporting bone. You may have a bone grafting procedure approximately four months before you receive your dental implant, which will give the site time to heal and strengthen. In some cases, the graft is done immediately with implant placement.
Socket Bone Grafting
To make room for an implant, our doctors may need to remove one of your existing teeth. During this extraction procedure, they may decide that there isn’t enough supporting bone below the tooth and will graft bone to the site. This process will also help you retain the bone that you already have.
Sinus Bone Grafting
Every person’s skull has large, empty areas called sinuses. If these spaces are particularly large or located in a certain position, you may not have enough bone for an implant in the upper-rear of your jaw. A sinus lift may be required and our Midland OMFS doctor can graft bone in these areas, creating a new foundation for placing the implant.
High-Quality Care with Oral Surgery Specialists
Bone grafting is a common but important part of the procedures that Midland OMFS performs for patients. We are available to answer any questions you have about your treatment and look forward to your visit to our practice.
Contact Midland OMFS online or by phone at (989) 839-9979 to schedule an appointment.
