Bone graft treatment

Serving patients throughout Caversham, Emmer Green and Reading

When a tooth is lost, the jawbone beneath it shrinks from lack of stimulation and can change the shape of your mouth. Loss of bone can also be caused by gum disease, tooth development defects, trauma, and by previous dental procedures where efforts were not made to restore natural bone.

Before dental implant treatment can begin your dentist will first need to check that there is sufficient bone for an implant to be placed successfully. If there is insufficient bone you may need to have pre-treatment before your dental implants can be placed. This may include oral surgery procedures such as bone grafting or bone expansion.

At your initial consultation our implant dentist, Dr Denis Zenon, will use x-rays and scans to establish if pre-treatment is required and will explain this further.

Pre-treatment

Bone expansion

Your dentist may recommend a bone expansion if your jawbone is too narrow for a dental implant to be fitted. This involves making a small hole into your jawbone where your implant will eventually sit and using bone graft material to widen and strengthen the bone. The bone will be left to heal before a dental implant can be successfully installed.

Bone graft

Bone grafting is a treatment that is used to strengthen the area of bone your dental implant will be inserted into. This involves taking bone from elsewhere in the mouth and placing it in the area to be strengthened. After a number of months, this will fuse together, creating a stronger base for your implant.