Why You Need Bone or Gum Grafts
At your last visit to the dentist's, they dentist may have recommended that you undergo gum or dental bone grafting. Now, you may be wondering: Why me? Why do I need this surgical procedure? What are gum and dental bone graft procedures anyways?
This blog will explain what gum and dental bone grafts are, why an oral surgeon may recommend these treatments, and what they involve. You will have all the information you need to make an informed decision about your dental health.
What Is A Dental Bone Graft?
A dental bone graft is a minor procedure that helps strengthen your bone after jawbone loss. The dentist will make an incision to expose the bone, then, they will graft new bone material to it. Your body will recreate bone cells around the bone graft, building up the bone mass where you need it.
What Is A Gum Graft?
Gum graft surgery involves carefully placing a small amount of gum tissue surrounding an area where little or no tissue currently exists.
Why Do I Need A Bone or Gum Graft?
We will explain why you may need gum or bone grafting procedure below to help you understand how these treatments can benefit your oral health.
Bone Grafting
Dentists require bone grafts for many reasons, some of the most common being tooth loss, periodontal disease (better known as gum disease), or dental implant placement.
Bone grafting is needed to fix bone loss. The bone graft helps strengthen or replace lost bone by encouraging your own bone to grow and connect with the bone graft material. A dental bone graft will help create a strong supporting bone for your teeth.
Gum Grafting
Dentists recommend gum surgery to treat receding gums. Severe gum recession can lead to an exposed tooth root, making your tooth's root vulnerable to bacteria and decay. If left untreated, you could experience tooth loss.
Gum survey will fix receding and thin gums, protect your teeth, and prevent tooth loss.
The Procedures
Gum and dental bone grafts are surgical procedures performed under local anesthetic.
Bone Graft Treatment
A bone graft is a relatively easy dental care procedure. It involves strengthening the jawbone using bone from your own body or manufactured materials. Bone grafts help repair bone after a tooth is lost.
If the patient still has their natural teeth over the area that has experienced bone loss, they may need to have their tooth extracted. Tooth extraction is relatively easy and done alongside the socket graft procedure (read below).
There are three types of bone graft procedures:
- Block bone graft: A small piece of bone from the back of the jaw, near the wisdom teeth, will be used to support and strengthen soft tissue.
- Socket graft: This is the type of graft you will have when one of your adult teeth is removed. It prevents bone loss and creates a stable, proper position for dental implants.
- Sinus lift: If you have lost an upper molar due to gum disease, damage, or decay, part of your sinus may reach down to fill the gap left by the lost tooth. A sinus lift restores the sinus and fills the gap with a bone graft.
During the healing process, patients may experience minor bleeding and difficulty chewing. We recommend that patients eat soft foods after their graft.
Dental Implant Surgery
A dental bone graft is typically the first step to placing dental implants. Here is what you can expect from the dental implant procedure:
- After the bone graft has healed, the dentist will drill a hole into the healthy bone tissue to create a new socket.
- The dentist will place a titanium post with a metal cap into the socket to act as a replacement tooth root.
- Patients will need to wait several weeks to let their bone connect to the titanium post.
- The dentist will fabricate dental implants to replace their missing teeth. First, they take moulds of their teeth to create a crown that looks like a natural tooth. They will then do a colour match to select the right colour for the dental implants. After a few weeks of waiting, the dental services lab will return the crown.
- The crown is attached to the titanium post to replace the missing tooth.
Gum Graft Treatment
There are three types of gum grafting procedures:
- Pedicle gum graft: This procedure is when you cut a flap of gum tissue and move it sideways to cover exposed roots. This procedure is ideal because the blood vessels stay in place.
- Gingival graft: This procedure takes a small piece of tissue from the roof of your mouth and applies it to an area where your gums are thinning.
- Connective tissue graft: When large areas need grafting, we will remove tissue from the roof of your mouth and apply it onto the surgical site.
