A bone graft for teeth or teeth bone grafting is basically an operational/surgical treatment or procedure that is performed in order to supply bone tissue to the jaw (in case the jaw is distorted due to any accident or physical trauma). The procedure of bone grafting for teeth becomes extremely necessary if the jaw of the face is cracked or chipped due to some sort of external, serious injury. The health of the jaw can also be comprised due to some sort of periodontal/gum disease.
Due to distortion of the jaw, it becomes shrunk due to which there is not enough bone available for the proper functioning of the jaw and bone grafts for teeth are required. In such cases, tooth restoration and even the dental implants would be completely useless. At such a crucial time, the teeth bone graft provides a shielding effect to the distorted jaw, by motivating the preexisting bone to form new bone tissue in the ruptured area.
If we further dive into details, we come to know that bone grafting methods available for the teeth bone graftare generally of three types. This includes xenograft, allograft and autograft. Out of these three, autografting is done by the help of already existing bone tissues in your body. Whereas, xenograft and allograft procedures are performed by obtaining tissues either from an animal or donor human beings, respectively.
As every dental case is obviously different from the former one, so the type of teeth bone graft procedures depends upon individual preferences and more specifically upon the dentist’s recommendation after observing the severity of a particular case.
Is tooth bone grafting safe?
The answer to this most frequently asked question is “YES”. Teeth bone grafting are basically procedures which modify the optimal function of the formerly distorted jaw without causing any sort of discomfort and problems.
Just like every other surgical procedure, there are some risk factors of teeth bone grafting as well, but they are very rare.
Bone grafting teeth often lead to numbness, pain and swelling. These are the common symptoms that occur generally almost after every surgery. In some cases, the jaw may become bruised too but that’s completely normal. All of these problems can be tackled by the administration of certain painkillers and application of ointments.
In case, if the damaged caused to the jaw due to surgery is very serious because of teeth bone graft, then it may lead to nerve rupture and bacterial function, but as said above, it is rare.
Due to the fact that the safety rate of teeth bone grafting is very high, it makes it one of the most widely performed and well trusted orthodontic procedure. However, in case you feel any sort of pain or face any issue in teeth bone grafting, a dentist needs to be contacted immediately.
How long does a teeth bone graft last?
Sometimes, due to some changes in the internal environment of the oral cavity, it becomes easier for the teeth bone graft to become a permanent part of the jaw and its bone. This fusing of the teeth grafting bone with your jawbone is basically followed by the healing process which approximately takes 3 to 6 months. This healing period ultimately depends upon on individual’s ability to tolerate the pain.
However, if an orthodontist forgets to perform a tooth restoration procedure after placing bone graft for teeth, then the new bone might disintegrate and fall apart with time due to disuse.
During the healing process, the implementation of the tooth restoration/dental implant procedure, imitate the function of the root of natural teeth. This leads to the activation of the bone of jaw and inhibits bone loss after bone grafting for teeth.
What happens during bone grafting?
Teeth bone grafting is simply a surgical procedure which comprises of recreation of tissue of the bone in the distorted and damaged area. The process of bone grafting includes the following steps:
The first and foremost step is the administration of anti-sedative or anesthesia to assure that the patient feels no discomfort or pain during the surgical procedure. The orthodontic surgeon then uses a scalpel to make an incision in order to remove the ruptured tissue from the respective region.
Now, the next process comprises of the acquirement of the donor graft material. This, as already discussed above, can be obtained from three resources. Xenograft is obtained from animal tissues (particularly of pigs), autograft and allograft are obtained from already existing human tissues in the body and donor human being tissues, respectively.
The orthodontist then uses peculiar types of screws and plates to fit the respective graft with the defected region of the jawbone.
At last, when the procedure of teeth bone graftingis completed, the incision is sealed with the help of surgical stitches. The bone grafting in teeth acts as a shield motivating the pre-existing bone cells to shift to their root origin and fill the missing gaps. Over the period of time, the bone graft gradually fuses with the jawbone just like the original one and improves its functionality.
