Bone and Gum Grafting

Prepare Your Mouth for Dental Implants

Dental implants are the only tooth replacement that protects your health in addition to restoring your smile. They’re likely the best treatment option if you want your smile to stay healthy and attractive for many years to come.

Since dental implants require a strong jawbone and healthy gums to be successful, not every patient is an immediate candidate. Thankfully, Dr. Grubb can help you qualify for implants with supplemental treatments such as gum and bone grafting.

Explore our guide to learn how these procedures will prepare you for implant surgery.

Bone Grafting

Why Do You Need a Bone Graft?

The key to an implant’s success is osseointegration, the process of your titanium implant fixture fusing with your jawbone to replace the natural tooth root. In order for osseointegration to work, you need to have a strong jawbone with plenty of density.

If you’ve been living with missing teeth for a long time, or if you’ve previously worn dentures, your jawbone has likely suffered from deterioration that will interfere with the success of your implant.

How Does a Bone Graft Work?

By performing a bone graft, Dr. Grubb can strengthen your jawbone and stimulate healthy growth. This is accomplished by taking bone tissue from another part of your body or a donor source and grafting it to the weakest areas of your jaw.

Once the new tissue has healed and integrated into your jaw, you’ll be ready for Dr. Grubb to place your implants.

Gum Grafting

Why Do You Need a Gum Graft?

Missing teeth can increase the levels of plaque in your mouth and put you at risk for gum disease. Since dental implants are placed directly in your jawbone, your gums need to be strong enough to support the titanium fixture and keep it stable.

As a result, healthy gum tissue is a necessity if you want to receive dental implants.

How Does a Gum Graft Work?

Gum grafting is performed in a very similar manner to bone grafting. Dr. Grubb will take healthy gum tissue from a donor and graft it to the receding areas of your gums. This new tissue will naturally integrate into your existing tissue, restoring your gums to full health and ensuring they’re strong enough to support implants.

This treatment will also eliminate infectious bacteria from your gums, protecting you from potential consequences including cardiovascular issues and additional tooth loss.