Bone Graft (Osseous Graft)

What Is a Dental Bone Graft?

Your bones regenerate on a continuous basis. New bone cells replace old ones to keep your skeletal frame strong. But if the proper stimulation cues go missing, serious consequences inevitably occur.

Tooth loss causes the signals for bone regeneration to cease because the roots no longer stimulate your jawbone. The bone gradually melts, or resorbs, causing an aged, sunken appearance in your face. Periodontal disease can also result in the loss of tooth-supporting bone. Bone loss makes it more challenging to replace missing teeth, since dental implants require a sufficient amount of bone for anchoring. Three different types of bone graft materials may be used.

These are:

• Autograft.
• Allograft.
• Xenograft.

Conditions that Benefit from a Dental Bone Graft

Bone grafts are a minor surgical procedure that your central dentist Dr. Victoria Kushensky performs in her office. Located at Hutchinson Metro Dental in Bronx, NY, Dr. Kushensky has experience performing this procedure, leading to fewer complications and exceptional results. As an implant specialist and cosmetic dentist, he always considers your health, in addition to your appearance, when providing any dental services.

Bone grafting surgery may be warranted for a number of dental situations, such as:

• Preventing bone loss. During a tooth extraction, your Bronx, NY dentist may opt to perform a bone graft as a preventive measure. This helps your jawbone continue to regenerate and stay strong and healthy.
• Saving your teeth. Whether due to periodontal disease or injury, Dr. Kushensky uses a bone grafting procedure to save your natural teeth, keeping them supported by new material.
• Strengthening your jaw. For dental implants, your cosmetic dentist first assesses the density of your jawbone. Compromised and weakened jawbones provide a poorer foundation for implants, increasing the likelihood of implant failure. Bone grafting surgery helps shore up the foundation for anchoring implants.

The Bone Grafting Procedure

Although bone graft surgery varies slightly depending on the amount of bone needing to be replaced, you can expect several basic steps, including:

1. Using local anesthesia, Dr. Victoria Kushensky, your Bronx, NY family dentist, makes you comfortable for the procedure. If you experience dental anxiety, you may ask for oral or IV sedatives or other sleep dentistry.
2. Lerner makes a small incision in your gum where you need new bone. If he extracted a tooth, he cleans out the socket and readies it for bone material. Also called a socket graft, this procedure prevents jawbone loss, fills the void left by the extracted tooth and makes for a solid base for any dental implant options at a later date.
3. After inserting the bone graft material in the socket or incision, your dentist closes the gums with sutures and sends you home with pain-relievers and instructions for healing.

Material Used for Bone Graft Surgery

The type of material used for bone grafts depends on where it’s placed and the overall health of your existing bone. For socket preservation grafts, your Bronx dentist may use bovine bone to stimulate live bone regeneration. This process takes between three and six months for the foundation to be secure enough for implants.

Trauma, disease and congenital conditions contribute to your body losing the necessary bone needed for restorative procedures. A block bone, called an autogenous chin graft, helps supply the best foundation when you have significantly more bone loss. For this process, your dentist harvests live bone from another part of your body.

The most common sites to harvest a block of your own bone for grafting are your lower jawbone under the wisdom teeth and occasionally from your chin. The procedure is done through tiny incisions inside your mouth. The bone is transferred and grafted with tiny screws. After sewing the incision shut, your bone heals and integrates for the next few months.

The Sinus Lift Option

If you’ve lost a tooth or bone in your upper jaw, Dr. Victoria Kushensky in Bronx, NY discusses a different bone graft procedure called a sinus lift. Because of the upper jaw’s proximity to your sinuses, he takes special care preparing the bone for implants. Insufficient bone structure and density leads to implants encroaching into your sinus cavity. This may cause pain, infection and implant failure.

Although a sinus lift requires a slightly more extensive procedure, it provides a safe and stable area for a future implant. After making a small incision above the roots of your upper teeth, your dentist carefully lifts the sinus cavity and sinus membrane, without puncturing it, to form a small pocket. Filling this cavity with the appropriate bone graft material, your dentist then sutures the incision closed. After four to six months, x-rays usually show sufficient bone growth for an implant procedure.

Bone graft surgery improves your implant options, giving you the best possible tooth replacement results. Ask Dr. Victoria Kushensky of Hutchinson Metro Dental in Bronx, NY if he feels you need a bone graft.