Want a dental implant? A guide to bone grafts

Are you eager to fill a gap left by missing teeth, but are worried that you won’t have enough bone to qualify for oral implants?

At High Dental, we have helped many, many patients who have wanted a dental implant Melbourne and may be able to offer you a bone graft to increase the success of the implant process.

In this short guide, we talk about bone grafts and their role in fitting a dental implant Melbourne, so read on!

What are bone grafts?

Part of the assessment to have a dental implant Melbourne fitted will involve an X-ray of the area that the implant is going to be attached to. And if you have a crack in your jaw, or thin or damaged bone, you may think that this disqualifies you from having an implant fitted.

But a bone graft helps with this, it is used to increase the width, strength or height of the jawbone to make it suitable for an implant fitting.

Usually, the bone itself is taken from another part of your body. This could be your chin, your arm or your leg. Or, a bone graft may be made from synthetic bone or even animal-derived bone, but the chances of rejection increase with these options, so we prefer to use bone from your own body for a graft.

Fitting a bone graft

The fitting of a bone graft is a simple procedure that is performed by one of our oral surgeons.

You will either be given a local anaesthetic or, if you are nervous, we may be able to offer you sedation. We will make an incision in your gum above where the graft is needed and then, the bone we are using will be shaped to fit where it is being placed.

Depending on the size of the graft and its position, we will typically use either dental pins, screws, plates or cables to hold it in place as it fuses to the surrounding bone. The gum is then closed, sewn together and our team will assess the fusing of the graft over the coming months.

On average, the procedure takes up to 60 minutes, but can be longer if the graft is larger or required at the back of the mouth.

Healing time

The area where you have had the graft fitted is likely to feel a bit sore for a week or two, as the gum heals, but the overall healing time of a dental bone graft can take between three to nine months.

But this depends on factors such as the size of the graft, the issue it is correcting (cracked bone, thinned bone etc) and of course, your immune system.

It is also important, as it is with every surgery, that you keep an eye out for signs of infection. These include abnormal swelling, discomfort, discolouration and the presence of pus around the implant site along with a fever. If you have any of these symptoms, please seek urgent medical attention.

Aftercare

Once the graft is fitted, you will need to see our team every month for an X-ray, so we can assess if the bone is fusing or not. If after 12 months there is no sign of the graft fusing, we will usually remove it and discuss other restorative methods with you.

Other than this, aim to keep the site clean with salt water and refrain from smoking or eating any hard food until the gum has healed.

DISCLAIMER

All treatment carries risks. Individual consultation is required with one of our practitioners to ensure that the treatment is right for you.