What Is Dental Bone Grafting?
What is dental bone grafting? Dental bone grafting can be a number different things.
The first topic we will cover on dental bone grafting is socket preservation. Socket preservation is a simple way to ensure that there are less defects in the bone when a tooth is extracted. When the tooth is extracted, the socket remains and fills with blood. In some cases, the tissue can invaginate the area causing a bony defect.
Bony defects are not ideal for placing implants. When a bone graft is placed in the socket and a collagen membrane is placed over the area with sutures to hold it down, the area is less likely to heal with a bony defect.
What are the types of bone grafting?
There are many different types of bone graft material that can be placed within the socket. The process requires the dentist to clean the socket to remove the periodontal ligament and any abscess or a cyst that remain in the socket. Smile Studio of Buford dentists perform bone grafting procedures on many patients. This procedure is typically recommended for patients to help them maintain their bone integrity for future implant placement.
Once the area is thoroughly cleaned, the doctor may irrigate the area with paradex or chlorhexidine irrigation. This is disinfecting irrigation. The bone graft material will then be mixed with either sterile saline or plasma from the patient's own blood. There are many different types of bone graft material which we will cover in later posts.
The bone graft material, which looks like a ground up material or powder, is then placed into the cleaned and disinfected socket. It is packed with a condenser instrument. The bone graft material is then covered with a collagen plug or membrane. This membrane or plug will dissolve on its own. The doctor will then place stitches or sutures over the membrane to keep it in place. This is the process of socket preservation.
Bone grafting within the sinus:
The next thing we will cover is bone grafting within the sinus. Sometimes the sinus will drop into an area where an upper molar was removed. This is called sinus pneumatization. It is basically when the air fills the sinus causing the sinus to push down into the area where the roots once were. Even if you have had a socket preservation, it still may be necessary to have a sinus augmentation as well.
If you have further questions about how bone grafting works or would like to reserve time with one of our doctors you can book online here!
