Dental Bone Grafting Restores Your Jawbone
Dr. Bruce Watkins performs dental bone grafting procedures at his Elkhart, IN, practice using the latest technologies to build up patients’ jawbone tissue prior to dental implant placement. A bone graft replaces bone tissue lost due to gum disease or tooth loss, improving a patient’s eligibility for dental implants. Dental implants require a sufficient amount of bone tissue for full support and stability.
Bone grafting is also used for ridge augmentation, a dental procedure used to recreate the natural contour of gums and jaw that may have been lost after tooth extraction or periodontal disease.
What is Bone Grafting?
Missing teeth can lead to jawbone recession and degeneration, which can cause patients to look prematurely aged. Patients suffering from jawbone recession do not have sufficient bone tissue to support implants. However, a bone graft procedure can restore jawbone tissue. A bone graft may also be performed following a tooth extraction to preserve the integrity of the socket.
A bone graft can be harvested from the patient's body, or the surgeon can elect to use donor tissue. It is important to note that patients may need to wait for up to six months after a bone graft surgery before receiving dental implants. Dr. Watkins utilizes advanced technology to help reduce total recovery time.
Bone Grafting Procedure
Following a consultation with Dr. Watkins to determine your candidacy for the procedure, 3D scans will be taken to choose the optimal sites for bone grafts. When you come in for your procedure, you will receive a local anesthetic to numb any pain. The graft material will be placed in the predetermined locations. Your gum tissue will be placed over the graft area and then sutured in place. In most cases, your bone graft will also contain a supplement to stimulate the healing and growth processes.
A bone graft procedure can restore jawbone tissue, helping patients become eligible for dental implants.
Advanced Technology
Dr. Watkins uses a variety of technologies for bone graft procedures, providing patients with the highest rates of success and satisfaction. Our GALILEOS® CBCT 3D scanner is used to plan bone graft procedures. Dr. Watkins also utilizes a centrifuge to create platelet-rich plasma (PRP) derived from a sample of the patient's blood. PRP is a concentration of a patient's own growth factors used to accelerate the healing process and reduce the risk of infection. This approach has been used for many years to expedite recovery from sports injuries, but in recent years, has been successfully applied to oral surgery procedures.
Schedule Your Consultation
If you are missing teeth, or require tooth extraction, dental implants can greatly enhance your oral health and quality of life. If you have waited to seek treatment for missing teeth, you may have experienced bone atrophy, and may be unable to receive implants without some preliminary treatments. Fortunately, a bone graft can restore your implant candidacy and provide many other important benefits. Contact Watkins Family Dentistry to schedule your bone grafting consultation with Dr. Watkins.
