Also called regenerative surgery, a bone graft is used to recreate bone and soft supporting tissues lost due to periodontitis. If you have periodontitis, you may be losing bone support around your teeth. In order to avoid extractions, Dr. Kaufman may recommend regrowing the lost bone with a graft.

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The goal of bone grafting is to encourage the body to rebuild the bone and other structures that attach a tooth to the jaw. First, one of our doctors will separate the gums from your teeth in order to gain access to the roots and bone. The roots will be thoroughly cleaned, and the holes in the bone will be filled with a graft material that usually consists of your own bone.

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After this process is completed, the oral surgeon will put the gums back in place and stitch them together. Over the next few months, the grafted material will be encouraged to grow, which will fill in for lost bone and soft tissue.

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Ridge Augmentation

A common use of bone grafting is for ridge augmentation. Ridge augmentation can recapture the natural contour of your gums and jaw after the loss of a tooth as a result of trauma, congenital anomalies, infection, or periodontal disease. Achieving an ideal amount of gum and bone as a support to surrounding restorations or implants may require hard- and soft-tissue reconstruction.

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After the loss of one or more teeth, your gums and jawbone may become indented where the tooth or teeth used to be. This occurs because the jawbone recedes when it no longer is holding a tooth in place.

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Not only is this indentation unnatural looking, it also causes the replacement tooth to look too long compared to the adjacent teeth, and can create an area that is difficult to keep clean.

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Ridge augmentation uses bone and tissue-grafting procedures to fill in the indented area of the jaw and gums, to leave you with a smooth gum line that coexists with your restoration or dental implant.

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Sinus Augmentation

Sinus augmentation is performed when there is not enough bone in the upper jaw, or the sinuses are too close to the jaw for dental implants to be placed. During this procedure, we will add bone between your jaw and sinus, in addition to lifting the sinus membrane to make room for the extra bone.

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Periodontal disease can cause bone loss, and because of the anatomy of the skull, the back of the upper jaw naturally has less bone than the lower jaw. If your periodontal disease has left you with too little bone in your upper jaw, sinus augmentation can enable Dr. Kaufman to create a healthy foundation for an implant to be placed.

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The Procedure

Your oral surgeon will cut into the gum tissue and lift it away from the bone. A small area of bone will be removed, which allows the doctor to push the sinus membrane gently up and away from the jaw.

 

Then a bone graft will be placed into the space where the sinus membrane was. Once in place, the gum tissue is stitched closed and the bone graft material will begin to grow, to fill in the areas of lost bone. When the grafted material is fully meshed with the existing bone, Dr. Kaufman will be able to place your implant, and return your mouth to an ideal state of function and aesthetics.