Over a period of time, the jawbone associated with missing teeth atrophies or is reabsorbed. Gum disease and injuries can also leave areas inadequate for proper implant placement. This can produce poor quality and quantity of bone suitable for placement of the proper width and length of implant needed for a long lasting result.
Dr. Allard can perform many different procedures to replace or add bone to deficient areas, therefore, allowing people that may have not been a candidate for implants to receive them with functional and aesthetic results.
Bone needed to graft deficient areas can be obtained from a tissue bank or your own bone can be taken from the jaw, hip, or tibia (below the knee). Special membranes may be utilized to protect the bone graft and to encourage bone regeneration. This membrane dissolves under the gum.
Major bone grafts are required to repair defects caused by traumatic injuries, tumor surgery, or congenital defects. These defects are repaired using the patient’s own bone. This bone is harvested from the skull (cranium), hip (iliac crest), and lateral knee (tibia) depending on the size of the defect. These procedures are routinely performed in an operating room and require a hospital stay.
After years of wearing an appliance or after traumatic loss of teeth, the underlying ridge of bone will be too thin to place conventional implants. A procedure to expand the ridge can be performed by adding bone grafting material. This will increase the width of the ridge therefore allowing for placement of implants.
The maxillary sinuses are behind your cheeks and on top of the upper teeth. Some of the roots of the upper posterior teeth extend up into these sinuses. Then these upper teeth are removed, a thin wall of bone is left separating the sinus from the mouth. This condition does not allow for adequate implants of adequate length to be placed. This requires a sinus graft or sinus lift procedure.
The sinus is entered from inside the mouth where the upper teeth used to be. The sinus membrane is then lifted upward and donor bone is inserted into the floor of the sinus. This creates more vertical bone height to allow for the proper length of implant to be placed. After several months of healing the bone becomes part of the patient’s jaw.
In some instances, the implants can be placed at the same time as the sinus graft procedure.