Bone Grafting

Bone & Soft Tissue Grafting in Birmingham, Alabama

When you have missing teeth, there are no longer tooth roots in place to continuously stimulate your jaw bone when you chew to keep it healthy. The common result is bone atrophy in the jaw and alveolar ridge (the bone that surrounds and supports the teeth). For a stable dental implant placement, a certain amount of healthy bone in the jaw is required. When this bone is lacking, oral surgeons use advanced bone grafting techniques to build up bone mass to support an eventual dental implant. Once the new implant or implants are placed, they will act just like natural tooth roots to maintain the integrity of the bone for years to come.

Drs. Roden and Alling are experts at the bone and soft tissue grafting procedures that allow more patients the opportunity to receive stable, long-lasting dental implants, and we perform these procedures in the comfort of our practice in Birmingham, Alabama. Our doctors also utilize bone grafting in the treatment of other oral and maxillofacial conditions, such as in the repair of facial abnormalities or injuries due to facial trauma.

Please feel free to request a consultation at Roden Oral, Facial, and Dental Implant Surgery to discover if bone grafting or soft tissue grafts will be a part of your treatment plan. During this appointment, the health of your gum tissue and your jaw bone will be assessed to discover if a tissue or bone graft will benefit you.

We find that our bone grafting patients are given a boost of confidence about treatment when they hear stories from patients who have already undergone similar treatment at our practice. We encourage you to check out our Patient Stories page.

Types of Bone Grafting

Bone grafts are so effective at helping to build bone mass and strength in areas of the jaw where implants are to be placed that they are often a first step in the dental implant process. Bone grafts usually consist of a solution of granulated bone material or other healing agents applied to the areas of the jaw where implants are to be placed. The bone material we use is sourced from another part of your body or, most often, a tissue bank.

We perform several types of bone grafts to meet our patient’s needs:

• Ridge Expansion. When the bone that surrounds your teeth (called the alveolar ridge) has atrophied, dental implants may not have a suitable foundation for placement. In cases such as these, a ridge augmentation procedure may be performed before having dental implants placed, during which bone graft material is inserted into the implant area to stimulate bone growth.
• Sinus Lift. The sinus is a natural hollow space in the face that neighbors the upper arch of teeth. If the bone that separates the sinus from the oral cavity is too thin to support a dental implant, a sinus lift procedure may be recommended. For this procedure, a bone graft is placed in the jaw below the sinus membrane to supplement the area.
• Socket Preservation. After tooth loss or extraction, your tooth socket may be filled with bone grafting material immediately after extraction to prepare the site for an eventual dental implant.
• Nerve Repositioning. In some rare cases, the nerve that gives sensation to the lower lip and chin may need to be repositioned to accommodate a dental implant placement in the lower jaw. This procedure is the last option after less aggressive approaches have been tried, as post-operative numbness of the lower lip and jaw area are common.

Soft Tissue Grafts

Sometimes, the quality or quantity of gum tissue is lacking around the area where a dental implant is to be inserted. In these cases, soft tissue grafts can be an important part of successful dental implant placement. In this type of procedure, grafted soft tissue is harvested from another part of your oral cavity to promote optimal healing around a dental implant and help ensure an optimal long-term result. There are also some synthetic or tissue bank materials which can be utilized as well.

Please contact the knowledgeable staff at Roden Oral, Facial, and Dental Implant Surgery with any questions you have about the procedures and services we offer or if you are ready to request a consultation appointment with Dr. Roden or Dr. Alling.