Before some patients use implants to replace severely damaged or missing teeth, they may need a bone graft for a dental implant. This surgical procedure provides a strong, stable, and sturdy foundation for dental implants.Learning more about bone grafting helps you understand if you may require to get the procedure done before you get dental implants.
What is Bone Grafting?
This surgical procedure uses the transplanted bone to rebuild and repair damaged or diseased bones. A bone graft is used to fix bones anywhere in the body. Your surgeon at All in One Benso Family Dental can take bone from legs, hips, or ribs to perform the graft.A bone graft helps build up the jaw if it’s too soft or too thin. It uses materials such as processed bone minerals, and the body deposits new bone cells around it. The natural bone starts growing and eventually replaces the graft material completely.
When is Bone Grafting Necessary?
A bone graft is needed when you want a dental implant, but the bone in your jaw is damaged or weak. The procedure allows your dentist in Phoenix, AZ, to replace the bone with a stronger base, increasing the likelihood that the dental implant will be successful.Some reasons that may lead to weak bone include:
- Advanced gum disease
- If you have missing teeth that were not replaced
- You experience trauma or injury to the facial area
- Development defects
Also, there are four main reasons why bone grafts are needed:
- Bone graft is used in the case of complex or multiple fractures or fractures that don’t heal well after initial treatment.
- Fusion helps heal together two bones across a diseased joint. However, fusion is mostly done on the spine.
- Regeneration is used when a bone is lost to infection, disease, or injury. This may involve using large sections or small amounts of bone in bone cavities.
- A bone graft helps the bone heal an implanted device like plates, joint replacements, or screws.
Types of Bone Grafting
There are different types of bone grafting. They include:
Allograft
This type of bone graft uses bone tissue from another person. The public health services have strict on how these issues are handled, and the bone tissue is sterilized and cleaned to ensure the recipient is safe.This method is common in spinal fusion surgery. It offers a framework around which healthy bone tissue can grow.
Autograft
This method uses a sample of your bone tissue. The tissue usually comes from the hip bone. Your surgeon will make an incision to obtain the bone tissue. There’s a benefit in using your tissue because it increases the chances of successful fusion. However, the amount of bone collected is limited.In addition, you might feel pain in the area where the bone graft is collected.
Bone Marrow Aspirate
A marrow is a spongy substance inside bones. It contains progenitor cells and a stem that helps heal bone fractures.Your surgeon uses a needle to get a bone marrow sample from the hip bone. The bone marrow aspirate can be used alone or mixed with other bone grafts to improve bone healing for allograft procedures.
Synthetic Bone Graft
Synthetic bone grafting uses artificially produced materials that are made from a variety of porous substances. Some contain proteins, too, for supporting bone development.
What Happens During A Bone Grafting Procedure?
You should expect the following during a bone graft near you:
- You’ll receive anesthesia temporarily putting you to sleep and block sensation.
- Your surgeon or dentist will carefully monitor your vital signs, such as blood pressure and heart rate.
- Your surgeon will then clean the affected area and cut through your skin and the muscle surrounding the bone that receives the bone graft.
- Sometimes, the surgeon makes a different cut to get the bone graft. This may be from your leg bone, hip bone, or ribs. Your surgeon uses special tools to remove a small portion of bone.
- The surgeon inserts the bone graft between the two pieces of bone that require to grow together. In other cases, your dentist might secure the bone graft with special screws.
- Your surgeon will then make any other necessary repairs.
- The muscle and layers of skin around your treated bone are closed surgically; if necessary, they also do that to where the bone was harvested.
