Bone Grafting
Wilmington, DE
 If you suffer from gum disease or have lost an adult tooth, you will have lost bone. Bone grafting may be needed as part of your implant treatment. Delaware Periodontics can help you with this challenge.
What Causes Bone Loss?
Whenever you lose teeth as an adult, the bone that supported that now lost tooth starts to disappear. Advanced stages of gum disease let bacteria invade your mouth, and that bacteria can destroy your gums and then work its way down to your bones.
When you lose bones in your jaw and face, it can affect the way that your face looks. Missing teeth, sagging features, and trouble speaking are common side effects of losing too much bone.
Types of Bone Grafting
No matter why you need a bone graft, there are several types of grafts that you can get depending on your level of bone loss. The type of graft you require will also be dependent on the conditions in your mouth.
Whether block grafting or particulate grafting, Delaware Periodontics will help determine which is the most predictable for your case. Socket grafting can be used to help prevent bone loss or rebuild the bone damage associated with an extraction. This can and is often done to prevent more invasive types of grafting.
There are 4 options of material used in grafting. The first is your own bone. This can be from a local site or from another part of the mouth. The second is bone from a bone bank. This is safe and predictable alternative that can be less invasive. The third is using your own tooth. Delaware Periodontics is the only practice in Delaware using this technology of autologous dentin grinding as a bone graft material. The last option is recombinant growth factor called Infuse. This allows us to grow bone without harvesting bone or using substitutes.
The Aftermath
Most bone graft surgeries can be done in around two hours. Once the procedure is complete, then there might be some pain and swelling. The swelling can be reduced with ice and will be something you need to manage during recovery. A pain reliever might be subscribed if needed for more comfort.
You will also be limited to a liquid diet while recovering, and you will also need to keep your head elevated to avoid more swelling. Once the swelling goes down, you will be able to return to everyday life and let your mouth recover.
If you need a bone graft procedure, our doctor at Delaware Periodontics at 302-551-3553 can help you figure out what type of procedure you need to repair your mouth. |
