Bone For Your Dental Implant Surgery - Your Dentist Can Help You Regrow It

If you are considering having dental implants, one of the first things your dentist will check is the amount of bone that you have to hold the implant in place. If you do not have enough bone, there is a good chance that your implant will not fuse correctly, which will put you at risk of your implant failing in the future. The good news is, your dentist may be able to help you to regrow or regenerate the bone you need to have a successful implant. Here are several ways this may be done.

Donate Your Own Bone

In the right environment and with the right structure, your bone has the ability to regrow or to regenerate itself. One of the best ways your dentist can get your bone to do this is to build the necessary scaffolding needed out of your own bone that has been moved from another location.

Sometimes this bone can come from another location within your mouth, such as at the back of your lower jaw or even from your chin area. It may also come from another location within your body, such as your iliac crest or the top of your hip joint. Where the bone is grafted from will often be determined by the amount of bone you need, as well as the amount of bone that is available at the potential location. 

Most of these procedures are not as invasive as they sound and can be done safely in your dental office while you are under IV sedation. When your dentist grafts using your own bone, you have a much lower chance of your body rejecting the bone, because it is not a foreign body. This bone is already comprised of your own DNA.

The downside is that the location of the harvest will often give you a second incision site that will also have to heal. Although you may be slightly uncomfortable for a few days while the site of your incisions heal, this should quickly pass. 

Get Bone From A Cow Or Cadaver

If your dentist is unable or unwilling to use your own bone, they may also choose to use bovine or cadaver bones that have been donated for this type of purpose. Materials from both of these sources have been carefully prepared to ensure that you will be at no risk for any type of disease. Your body will normally accept these materials, although they are not your own bone. Your body will recognize their cellular structure as being similar to your own. If you use bone from another source, you will eliminate a second incision site on your body.

Turn Other Cells Into Bone

Technology has been able to take naturally occurring proteins and induce cellular differentiation or change the signals of certain cells from one type of cell to another. By giving these cells new direction, these proteins are able to order cells that would not ordinarily be designed to grow bone into those that will grow bone. One of the most commonly used of these proteins is bone morphogenetic protein 2. Although this process was originally designed and used in various orthopedic procedures, it is now being safely used in dental procedures. 

If you need additional bone to ensure the success of your dental implant, discuss your options with your dentist at a clinic like Tijeras Dental Service. They will be able to discuss the pros and cons of all of the various procedures that can be used to regenerate or regrow the bone that you may need. In addition, they will be able to provide you with an estimated timeline that will outline the entire implant procedure.