What is A Bone grafting?

A bone grafting procedure uses transplant material to repair existing bone or to replace bone lost to trauma or disease. The technique provides support for dental implants and can help restore the underlying structure of the face.

Capital Center® for Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery doctors are experts in bone grafting. We perform the procedure for patients who have needs varying from simple to complex. As specialists, we are able to leverage years of training and experience to produce predictable, aesthetically appealing, and lasting results.

Reasons for Bone Grafting

Your doctor may recommend bone grafting to support different kinds of treatment, including:

Dental implants. An artificial tooth root requires a strong anchor so that the new tooth can have the full functionality of the original. Adding bone in the area where the dental implant will be placed can provide this strength.

Orthognathic / cosmetic surgery. If you have a procedure to revise the jaw or facial cosmetics, your doctor may have to replace missing bone as part of the surgery.

Trauma and pathology procedures. Some patients have lost bone as the result of an accident. Others have portions of their bone removed during the excision of a tumor or cyst. Bone grafting can fill in these areas of loss.

While there are many different uses, bone grafting for dental implants is one of the most common procedures we perform for patients. Our doctors employ the technique for everything from a routine implant to complicated sinus lift surgeries.

Types of Bone Grafting Materials

Your graft can come from several different sources. In a traditional approach, the doctor harvests material from another site in the body, such as the knee or hip. As oral surgeons, we have extensive experience in acquiring bone from other areas of the body and transferring it to where it is needed. By leveraging the X-Guide™ system, we can precisely remove bone material from these donor sites.

Harvesting bone in this way has a few drawbacks, the biggest of which is that patients will need to heal in two places from the procedure. They will also have restrictions on their activities for one week or more as they recover. As a result, it’s much more common for our doctors to use material for bone grafting from other sources, such as:

  • Bone banks – Human donors
  • Xenographs – Bone from other species
  • Ceramic materials – Non-biologic materials

Techniques for Restoring Bone

Your doctor will choose an approach to bone grafting based on the amount and shape of the bone that needs to be replaced. Generally, this means using either particulate or block bone grafting.

Particulate bone grafting is the most common approach our doctors use for patients. We can mold particulate bone to different areas of loss, which makes it especially useful in oral surgery procedures. A biocompatible substructure such as a titanium mesh provides support and gives shape to the bone particles.

Block bone grafting may be necessary when there is a large amount of bone missing. This is sometimes the case with patients who have experienced trauma, had a tumor removed, or have a congenital defect. Blocks of bone give support and structure to the soft tissues without requiring a mesh structure.

Your Experience With Bone Grafting

During your initial consultation, your doctor will conduct a thorough examination and perform diagnostic tests to determine the care you require. Bone grafting is often a supplemental procedure for our patients, and we will go over where bone is needed as part of treatment planning. We can often choose the bone grafting material based on a patient’s preferences.

Some patients will have a bone grafting procedure in the same surgical session as their other treatment, such as the placement of a dental implant. However, the majority of patients receive bone grafts in one surgery and delay the next part of treatment until the grafting site has healed. This gives the site time to strengthen, promoting a more durable and reliable result. In either case, your comfort, safety, and quality of care will be our practice’s highest priorities.

Learn more about your options with bone grafting by scheduling an appointment with Capital Center® for Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. Contact us online or call us at (202) 386-7100.