Unfortunately, losing teeth in Ajax is a shared experience, but knowing many others are in the same position doesn’t make it any less unpleasant. The situation can worsen if you fail to replace missing teeth promptly, as your jawbone deteriorates without the stimulation provided by your natural tooth roots.
It’s essential, especially if you consider having dental implants in Whitby. Dental implants need an adequate amount of jawbone that must be strong enough to support the implant posts and fuse with the bone around them. When bone loss has occurred, bone grafting is necessary to replace the missing bone.
How Can Jawbone Volume Diminished?
When you have healthy teeth, every time you bite or chew, tiny sensations travel through the tooth into the tooth root and are transmitted to the surrounding bone. These sensations signal that replacing old bone cells is necessary when they begin to die. If you lose teeth, these sensations are lost so that when old bone cells die, they aren’t replaced. Over time, the jawbone can lose volume, so the ridge of bone that supports your teeth gradually diminishes in width and height.
The jawbone can also be destroyed if you have periodontal disease in Pickering, a bacterial infection that destroys gum tissue and other structures around your teeth. Eventually, this destruction leads to teeth becoming loose. Other times, the jawbone may be lost because of some form of trauma.
Why Consider Bone Grafting?
Bone grafting in Brooklin is a safe and effective way to replace missing bone, restoring it to its original dimensions so we can safely place dental implants and achieve optimal results. At the same time, bone grafting helps to protect facial appearance, ensuring the muscles in your cheeks and lips are correctly supported by your facial bones. Without the support, facial features can begin to collapse inwards, so the face looks prematurely aged.
How Will I Know If I Need a Bone Graft?
When you visit Durham Dental Solutions for an initial consultation for dental implants in Oshawa, our dentist will consider the quality and quantity of jawbone available for implant placement. A cone-beam CT scan provides detailed 3-D images of your jaws and existing teeth, allowing us to calculate the amount of bone available extremely accurately. We can also use the scan to plan bone grafting procedures and implant placement. Depending on the bone needed and the location, several types of bone grafting techniques are available.
Socket Preservation
Socket preservation is used immediately after tooth removal in Newcastle. Once the tooth is extracted, we pack the empty socket with bone grafting material, helping to preserve your jawbone structure and replace any missing bone volume. Sometimes, the dental implant is placed simultaneously, or the socket may be left to heal before implant placement.
Ridge Augmentation
If the ridge of bone that initially supported your teeth is too thin, a ridge augmentation procedure in Clarington can build up the ridge. It can restore the height and width of the bony ridge, ensuring plenty of bone to place your dental implants.
Sinus Lift
You may need a sinus lift if you need upper back teeth replaced. The bone here tends to be naturally thinner because it is close to the sinus cavities, air-filled spaces on either side of your nose. A sinus lift in Courtice ‘lifts’ the membrane between the sinus cavity and the jawbone gently out of the way, creating a space that can be filled with bone grafting material.