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Our Services / Bone Grafting

Bone Grafting

Bone Grafting services offered in Albany, NY

Bone grafting gives you the extra volume you need in your jawbone to receive stable dental implants. At Capital Region Periodontics and Dental Implants in Albany, New York,  periodontists Reed Ference, DDS, MDS, Sean Ference, DDS, MDS, and their team offer bone grafting to restore your jawbone’s shape and size to accommodate dental implants after a traumatic injury or gum disease. To learn more about bone grafting and why you may need it, call Capital Region Periodontics and Dental Implants, or book an appointment online today. 

Bone Grafting Q & A

What is bone grafting?

Bone grafting is a procedure that replaces missing bone with grafting materials like artificial or donor bone. There are multiple reasons you may need bone grafting, and one of the most common is to prepare your jaw for a dental implant. 

Jawbone deterioration is a common occurrence after you lose a tooth and its original root. The bone in your jaw gradually disintegrates because the body signals that the area no longer has the support of the tooth root. Bone grafting can strengthen the jawbone and increase the bone volume. This can make it possible to receive a dental implant in an area of bone loss. 

Capital Region Periodontics and Dental Implants offers major and minor bone grafting procedures. A minor bone graft is used to fix small defects and can replace bone after jawbone deterioration, gum disease, or injuries. Major bone grafts repair jaw defects from large traumatic injuries, tumor removal surgery, and congenital conditions. 

Who needs bone grafting?

Bone grafting can benefit you if you don’t have enough bone in your jaw. A lack of adequate bone material in your jaw could lead to unstable or unhealthy implants or even a change in your appearance, depending on the amount of bone you lose. 

You may benefit from either major or minor bone grafting if you experience:

  • Bone deterioration from tooth loss
  • Bone loss from an extraction
  • Bone loss from gum disease
  • A traumatic jaw injury

If you and the team decide to use your own bone material for the graft, the team discusses what bone to use. Common harvesting areas for bone material are the chin or the  lower jaw behind the last tooth.

Which type of bone grafting do I need?

There are several types of bone grafting that treat different jaw areas and serve separate purposes. The team at Capital Region Periodontics and Dental Implants specialize in:

 

Socket preservation

Socket preservation happens immediately after a tooth extraction. It helps prevent the section of the jawbone where the tooth once sat from deteriorating. Your dentist fills the empty socket with bone grafting material and covers it with a protective membrane that allows the socket to fill in with bone over the following 3-4 months. This will prepare the site for implant placement.

 

Ridge Augmentation

Ridge augmentation happens in an area where you have previously lost a tooth and the bone volume in that area. It helps grow the bone back into a site that you would like an implant placed that would otherwise have insufficient bone. Your dentist will fill the area with bone either from your own mouth or from a donor and cover it with a supportive membrane that will allow the bone to grow into the site over the course of 4-6 months.

 

Sinus augmentation

A sinus augmentation is a type of bone graft for the bone in your upper jaw. The sinuses are spaces inside your cheeks and to the side of your nose, and there is often insufficient height below the sinus to place implants in the back of your upper jaw. Sinus augmentation increases the volume and height of bone in your upper jaw allowing for the placement of dental implants.

For more information about bone grafting and the various types found in dentistry, call Capital Region Periodontics and Dental Implants, or book an appointment online today.