With a little preparation, you can make sure that you get much more from your next trip to the dentist. Your local dentist doesn't just check on the health of your teeth, they can also offer many other treatments. This website is designed to bring up the best info possible about the range of treatments a dental professional can offer you. We will be looking at dentures, tartar removal, tooth replacement and much more. While no one who contributes to this site is a trained dentist, everyone is extremely interested in researching and writing about this topic. Thank you for checking out this site.
The state of your alveolar bone plays a role in whether you're a suitable candidate for dental implants. But what is this bone, and what precise role does it play? And what are your options when your alveolar bone isn't able to host a dental implant?
The Alveolar Bone
Your alveolar bone is part of your jaw, and it's the part that holds the teeth. It maintains its width and density because it holds your teeth, and when teeth are missing, that bone can begin to decline. This decline is slow and steady, and if you opt for dental implants shortly after you've lost a tooth (or teeth), then your alveolar bone will not present any obstacles. It's when your teeth have been missing for quite some time and the bone's width and density have reduced at the site of these missing teeth that other approaches will be necessary.
Bone Grafting
When your alveolar bone cannot accommodate dental implants, bone grafting can become necessary. Bone can be grafted into the (now empty) dental socket to prevent its total collapse, although this is generally only performed when directly treating the socket will solve the issue. When bone loss is more pronounced, grafting will need to be performed on the alveolar bone itself (known as lateral ridge preservation grafting). The material for the grafting can come from donor bone, although in some cases, it can involve bone fragments being removed from your hip bone to be grafted onto your alveolar bone.
The Downside of Grafting
Although it's an effective means of preparing your jaw to host a dental implant, you might not want to go through something this invasive. It might be due to a personal preference, or an underlying health condition can make it unwise. There's also the fact that you will need to wait several months for the grafting to heal to the point that the implant can be inserted, followed by several months of waiting for the implant to stabilise. Bone grafting isn't for everyone, but is it absolutely necessary for receiving implants?
Alternative Implant Solutions
For those with multiple missing teeth who do not wish to undergo bone grafting, traditional implants might not be the best choice. Talk to your dentist about denture implants. These are still implants, but each implant will not host an individual prosthetic tooth. Instead, the implants will protrude from your jaw, creating a platform for a denture to click into place. The way in which the removable denture will need to be load-bearing differs from a traditional dental implant. This means that some loss of the alveolar bone is not an obstacle, and miniature dental implants can be used. These miniature implants are generally inadequate to host an individual prosthetic tooth, but when a number of them are implanted into your jaw, they can host a removable overdenture, firmly holding it in place.
Bone grafting can sometimes be an essential part of the dental implant process, but it's not appropriate for everyone. Implant-supported detachable dentures are a great solution when bone grafting is not an option.
To learn more, contact a dentist about denture implants.
Share10 September 2020
