SOFT TISSUE & BONE GRAFTING

Dental implants are strong artificial roots that hold crowns or dentures in place. The implants are surgically inserted into your supporting bone structure. Over a period of time, bone tissues grow around the implant and form a strong bond with it to give it the strength it needs to stay in place. One of the reasons governing success of a dental implant depends on how healthy the supporting bone is. Bone grafting is recommended when our dentist Dr. Bachour finds out that there is insufficient jawbone to hold an implant in place. We perform dental implant surgeries in our Sandgate, Queensland surgery. Through bone augmentation process using either generally your own bone or animal bone, our dentists rebuild the lost jawbone. The procedure creates a healthy foundation into which the implant can be inserted.

Why is bone grafting necessary?

An implanted tooth withstands bite loads. The force of the bite is transferred to the artificial tooth roots. When the jawbone, where the implant is inserted, is not healthy, there are higher chances of failure of the restoration. Therefore bone grafting is recommended in some cases to make sure that implants last.

When a tooth is lost or extracted the jawbone underneath starts to shrink because of lack of stimulation which it normally received through tooth roots. This leads to loss of valuable bone tissues. The height and width of the bone may reduce.

Periodontal disease is one of the major causes for tooth loss. When in the advanced state, periodontal disease can lead to loss of gum tissues and the supporting bone. Bone augmentation can help rebuild the lost bone tissues in such cases.

Sinus graft is one of the forms of bone augmentation which is performed to create more bone structure around the sinus membrane. This may be necessary when replacing a lost upper tooth.

How is bone grafting done?

Oral examination and scans can help our dentist identify the amount of bone loss and set a treatment plan accordingly. Bone grafting is done with the help of local anaesthesia. Our dentists explain the treatment plan in great detail to our patients and timings of the treatment.

Socket grafting

Socket grafting is a procedure where our dentist fills the socket of the bone immediately after extracting the tooth. This is done in order to prevent excessive bone loss after removing a tooth.

Bone grafting

Under bone grafting there are two kinds of procedures. One is where a block of bone is removed from another part of the body and inserted in the area where there is bone loss. The bone block is held in place using titanium screws which are removed once the bone heals. The second type of procedures is where powdered bone restoration material is filled in the area of bone loss and is covered using a membrane which becomes an integral part of the bone overtime.

Sinus grafting

Sinus grafting is a procedure where our dentist creates a healthy bone structure for the implants around the sinus membrane. To do so, the sinus membrane is moved slightly and the area is filled using bone graft material. The material solidifies and becomes an integral part of the bone.

Soft tissue grafting

Soft tissue grafting, refers to building up the gums in particular areas. For example, if a tooth has lost gum from around it, it can start to look ‘long’, from the saying ‘long in the tooth’. One possible procedure we have for this is to remove some gums from somewhere in your mouth (generally from the palate), and transplant it over the tooth where we want the gum to grow back.