With each tooth that fails or falls out, you lose a little of your quality of life. It first, it may only be a minor hit to your self-confidence. But as you lose more of your teeth, it gets more difficult to eat certain foods and it gets harder to feel comfortable smiling. Dental implants offer the promise of a restored smile, yet not everyone in need of new teeth is a strong candidate for dental implants and may be turned away by some dentists. However, a dentist who can perform bone grafting can help make you a strong candidate for dental implants.
How Bone Grafting Works
Like natural teeth, dental implants require a stable and reliable foundation: a healthy jawbone. When the jawbone deteriorates in mass and density, teeth begin to fall out. And if a jawbone can’t keep natural teeth it, it won’t hold dental implants for long.
After being numbed with a local anesthetic, you’ll open wide and the dentist will make small incisions of the gums to access the area of the jawbone that will receive the graft.
The dentist will pack in natural or synthetic bone dust. The graft will be wrapped in a membrane that will help guide the regeneration of bone and supporting structures. From there, the gums will be sutured back in place. Over the following months, the stitches will melt away, the membrane will dissolve, and the graft will fuse with the jawbone.
Other Ways Bone Grafting Can Improve Your Candidacy
Bone grafting is one of the best ways to improve a person’s candidacy for dental implants, but its uses aren’t limited to rebuilding jaws.
Tooth loss can accelerate bone loss, as jawbone sockets no longer occupied by teeth begin to deteriorate. Ridge preservation is a kind of bone graft that entails preserving empty sockets with bone material.
With age, the sinuses begin to sag and can crowd space in the mouth. A sinus lift adds bone material to the back of the mouth to help lift the sinuses and make room for dental implants.
More on Dental Implants in Greenwich, CT
Take a minute to reserve an appointment with a local dentist to learn more about how you can improve your candidacy for dental implants in Greenwich, CT.
