Bone Grafting for Dental Implants

Dental implants are an ideal solution for those men and women struggling with an imperfect smile due to broken, damaged, decayed or missing teeth. However, when it comes to implantation, not all patients are ideal candidates—this is most often due to a lack of quality and quantity of bone in the jaw. Because of this, more patients are turning to bone grafting for dental implants in order to experience success.

Dental implants require a certain quality and quantity of bone in the jaw for successful implantation. If patients do not have enough bone present in the jaw, the bone can be rebuilt through modern bone grafting techniques. Bone grafts are designed to build up or fill in jawbone defects for dental implant placement.

Four types of bone grafts are generally used, Autografts, Allografts, Xenografts and Alloplastic Grafts:

Autografts: this type of bone graft utilizes bone from your own body. The bone is generally harvested from the mouth or the hip. Autografts are the ideal form of bone grafting for dental implants because it is your own bone and therefore very compatible with your body. This grafting technique usually results in the greatest regeneration of missing jawbone.

Allografts: are bone grafts taken from human donors. Bone obtained in this manor is rigorously tested and thoroughly sterilized. Once placed, your body "converts" the donor bone into your natural bone, thereby rebuilding your jawbone for successful implantation.

Xenografts: are bone grafts harvested from animals. The animal bone, which is most commonly bovine (cow), undergoes a special process to make it both sterile and biocompatible. Xenografts act as bone fillers, which in time your body will replace with natural bone.

Alloplastic Grafts: are bone grafts consisting of man made synthetic materials. The most commonly used man made material that mimics natural bone is calcium phosphate. Depending on how the graft is made, it will be either "resorbable" or "non-resorbable", meaning your body may or may not replace the graft with natural bone.  When the Alloplastic Grafts are not replaced with natural bone, they act as a scaffold upon which natural bone is built—resulting in the creation of enough bone for successful implantation.

Modern bone grafting techniques are ideal for those patients needing bone replacement in order to undergo successful implantation. Should this treatment be recommended by your dentist, you will be given further information on the type, location and amount of graft needed in order to perfect your smile.