When a patient is referred to our office for the replacement of missing teeth, an evaluation of the remaining bone and gum tissue is completed. For dental implants to be placed in the most ideal location, there needs to be adequate bone remaining – both vertically and horizontally.
More bone loss can occur the longer a patient has been missing a tooth or teeth, as the site will atrophy with time. If significant loss of bone height or width has occurred, a ridge augmentation must be performed before a dental implant can be placed. During the jaw bone augmentation procedure, your surgeon will lift away the overlying gum tissue to expose the bony defect. This defect is then cleaned out and filled with bone grafting material and covered with a resorbable and/or non-resorbable membrane to protect the graft particles. This bone graft material substance is called freeze-dried bone allograft (FDBA). FDBA is obtained from a donor and every vial must pass rigorous testing and the strictest guidelines of the American Association of Tissue Banks. This verifies that every graft is free of disease before being used on a patient. After six months of healing, your natural jaw bone augmentation has partially replaced the grafted bone. Once healing is complete, the bone now has the ideal dimensions in both quality and quantity for dental implant placement.