What are Dental Implants and Bone Grafting?

Find out what makes you a candidate for dental implants and whether you need bone grafting.

Dental implants can be an amazing way to replace missing teeth. Of course, you may be worried that you can’t get implants if our Fresno, CA dental implant dentist, Dr. Alexander Pritsky, examines your smile and discovers that you have experienced significant bone loss. Don’t worry; one simple procedure can ensure that implants are right for you.

While the words “bone grafting” might sound scary at first, we are here to tell you that this is a pretty routine and completely painless procedure that is an effective way to help those who have lost a significant amount of jawbone to still be able to get dental implants.

There are many reasons why someone may not have enough healthy jawbone. Common causes include gum disease, traumatic injury, long-term denture use, tooth defects and leaving tooth loss untreated. Fortunately, our Fresno restorative dentist makes it easy to still get the care you need while improving the health of your jawbone.

Through the use of a bone graft, we can build back up the strength and density of the jawbone so that it becomes stable enough to support a dental implant. A bone graft can be performed right here in our office. There are different bone grafting methods, which we will discuss with you so that you can make an informed decision on which treatment will best fit your needs.

Once the bone grafting surgery is over we will provide you with antibiotics and often times pain medication. We will also give you some do’s and don’ts for how to care for your healing mouth. You will also need to come back in to see us to make sure that everything is healing properly. It will take several months for the new bone to actually be stable enough for us to place the implant. Factors such as how much bone density you have lost and the location of the graft will affect how long the healing process takes. It can take up to three or more months.

Are you interested in finding out whether you could be a good candidate for implants? There are so many people suffering from tooth loss that can benefit from what dental implants have to offer. If you are ready to treat your tooth loss our Fresno, CA implant dentist is ready to help.