Bone Grafting Barrie, ON
Many people think of their bones as hard structures that never change. However, the bone is always changing. New bone cells are constantly being made as old ones are being removed. This includes the bones that provide support for your teeth. If bone mass is destroyed or lost, it can compromise the stability of your teeth and compromise the shape of your face. Missing bone can also affect what types of dental treatments you can receive, including Dental Implants. At Huronia Oral Surgery Group, we can restore the strength of your jawbone with bone grafting.
What Can Cause Bone Loss?
Bone loss can often occur because of advanced gum disease, also called advanced periodontitis. In the later stages of gum disease, bacteria begin attacking your jawbone, breaking it down. They also attack the ligaments that help to hold your teeth in place. Because of this, your teeth lose attachment and become loose. They may fall out on their own. In cases of significant attachment loss, they may need to be extracted.
Bone loss can also occur because of tooth loss. Whether you lose teeth because of gum disease, facial trauma, or some other issue, your bone loses the stimulation of the missing teeth. With the loss of stimulation, bone growth cannot occur. On average, the jawbone loses about 25% of its width within the first year after tooth loss.
How Does Bone Grafting Work?
Bone grafting allows us to restore mass and strength to your jaw. It is a surgical procedure during which we transplant bone mass to the affected areas of your jaw. Bone grafting can occur at different times. It can be used to save teeth from falling out as a part of gum disease treatment. A bone graft may be used immediately following a tooth extraction to limit bone loss. The procedure can also be performed following significant bone loss to help increase the success of dental implants. The bone graft itself is like a platform that supports new bone growth and is eventually replaced by new bone.
Guided Tissue Regeneration
Following a bone graft, a membrane may be placed over the graft before your gums are stitched closed. This membrane is soaked in collagen. This membrane helps to stimulate the body's natural production of new bone and tissue. The membrane also acts as a barrier that prevents the soft tissues, which generate faster, from filling in areas where bone is supposed to grow.
Does the Bone Have to Come from My Body?
In many cases, the bone used for your bone graft comes from your own body. After all, it is your tissue, so there is no risk of rejection. You also do not have any risk of other complications such as disease transmission. However, this type of grafting does require another surgical site. Moreover, if you need a larger bone graft, this may not be the ideal solution.
Bone grafting material does not necessarily have to come from your own body. It can come from a suitable donor or even an animal source. In some cases, the graft material is an entirely synthetic material made up of minerals such as calcium, hydroxylapatite, and phosphorous.
Uses for Bone Grafting
Bone grafting can be an effective solution for saving teeth when advanced periodontitis has destroyed the bone and compromised their stability. Grafting can be done immediately following a tooth extraction to reduce the amount of bone loss you might experience. The procedure can also be done to restore missing bone mass to strengthen the jaw to make it more suitable for dental implants.
A bone graft can restore missing bone mass, giving your jaw back its strength. This can help to save teeth or make treatments such as Dental Implants possible. For more information, call Huronia Oral Surgery Group at 705-302-0357 today.