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Bone Grafting

Restore and Preserve Your Jaw Bone

Dental implants preserve the health of the jaw bone while restoring the look and feel of a natural tooth. This oral health benefit is due to the post, or the tooth root, stimulating the jaw bone through chewing. However, if a tooth is missing for a long period of time, bone deterioration can occur. In cases where there is significant bone loss in the jaw, a successful dental implant can be difficult to achieve.

Fortunately, Dr. Matthew Barefoot and his team strive to positively impact the lives of South Carolina’s community members by providing a variety of bone grafting options. A bone graft allows patients with jaw bone loss to receive dental implant treatment—which will, in turn, help to maintain the integrity of their jaw bone for improved oral health. Dr. Barefoot is board-certified by the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (ABOMS) and regularly performs successful bone grafting procedures in our Mount Pleasant office. If you require imaging, our office is equipped with 3D CBCT scanning technology. We also offer a variety of anesthesia and sedation options to keep you comfortable during treatment, and all of our staff members are required to maintain CPR certification to ensure optimal safety to patients.

Several Bone Grafting Options to Suit the Needs of South Carolina

Ridge Augmentation

The bone that surrounds the teeth is called the alveolar ridge. When this bone has atrophied due to trauma, tooth loss, or other factors, dental implants may not have the stable foundation they need for long-term success. When this is the case, Dr. Barefoot will often recommend a ridge augmentation procedure before placing dental implants, during which bone graft material is inserted into the implant area to stimulate bone growth.

Sinus Lift

If the bone that separates the sinus cavity from the oral cavity is too thin to support a dental implant, we may recommend a sinus lift procedure. For this procedure, a bone graft is placed in the upper jaw below the sinus membrane to enhance the bone in that area.

Socket Preservation

The empty tooth socket where a dental implant is to be placed may be filled with bone grafting material immediately after extraction. The socket is covered with gum tissue or an artificial membrane so that the body can naturally work to build extra bone tissue in the socket with the bone grafting material.

What is a Bone Graft Made Of?

Bone grafting affords oral surgeons the ability to replace bone where it is missing and encourage growth where new bone is needed. There are many safe and proven bone grafting materials used in oral surgery procedures, including:

Autogenous Bone Grafts

Autogenous bone grafts, also known as autografts, are made from your own bone that is usually harvested from your chin, jaw, lower leg bone, hip, or skull. Since the graft uses your own bone, there is no risk of your body rejecting the graft material, and the graft will produce new bone easily. However, for this type of graft, you will have to undergo a second procedure to harvest the graft from your body.

Allogenic Bone

Bone harvested from a human cadaver is called allogenic bone, or an allograft. This type of bone graft does not require a second procedure to harvest bone from your own body. The allograft serves as a scaffold over which your own new, healthy bone can grow to fill in the area where more bone is needed; it does not grow new bone on its own.

Xenogenic Bone

Xenogenic bone is sterilized bone obtained from another species, usually a cow. Like an allograft, this type of graft does not require an additional procedure to harvest the bone, and it serves as a framework for your own new, healthy bone to grow and fill the area where additional bone is needed. There is no concern about immune rejection or contamination from this type of graft because of the special way it is sterilized.

Bone Morphogenetic Protein (BMP)

Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMP) are safe and proven proteins that the human body naturally produces. BMP is excellent for promoting and regulating bone formation and healing. The BMP is soaked into a collagen sponge, and the sponge is placed in the graft site. As the sponge dissolves, the BMP stimulates cells to produce new bone. BMP is a great way to jump-start the body’s normal bone healing process, and it is not necessary to harvest bone from the patient’s hip, which eliminates the need for an additional procedure.

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Questions? We Are Here to Help

Our staff is here to answer your questions and guide you throughout your journey with our practice. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or concerns regarding your treatment.