Dental Bone Grafting
Rebuilding jaw bone to enable dental implants.
Bone grafting rebuilds jaw bone lost to missing teeth, creating a solid foundation for implants.
When It Is Needed
When bone is insufficient for implants; sometimes combined with a sinus lift.
Healing
Grafts integrate over a few months before implant placement.
Why Bone Disappears
A tooth root stimulates the bone around it. Remove the tooth and that stimulus goes: the socket collapses inwards, and the ridge narrows and shortens. Loss is fastest in the first year and continues, slowly, for life.
Periodontitis destroys bone directly. Long-term denture wear accelerates it. Which is why “we can place the implant later” quietly costs money.
The Types of Graft
Socket preservation: graft placed into the socket at the moment of extraction. The cheapest, simplest and most under-used procedure in dentistry. It limits resorption rather than abolishing it.
Guided bone regeneration: particulate graft plus a membrane, rebuilding width or height on a healed ridge.
Block graft: a solid block, usually harvested from elsewhere in the jaw, screwed into place for larger defects.
Sinus lift: raising the sinus floor to create height in the upper back jaw.
Where the Material Comes From
| Type | Source | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Autograft | Your own bone | Best biology; needs a second site |
| Xenograft | Bovine, processed | Most common; acts as a scaffold |
| Allograft | Human donor, sterilised | Banked and screened |
| Synthetic | Calcium phosphates | No donor; slower turnover |
Ask which is proposed and why. Some patients have religious or personal objections to bovine material; alternatives exist and should be offered without being asked.
Healing: The Part That Cannot Be Shortened
Graft material is a scaffold. Your own bone must grow into it and replace it, which takes 4–9 months depending on the defect, before an implant can be loaded. Placing an implant into an immature graft is a common cause of early failure.
Smoking substantially reduces graft success — nicotine constricts the very vessels that carry bone-forming cells. Most surgeons will insist on abstinence.
What to Ask Before You Agree
“Is grafting definitely needed, or is a shorter or narrower implant possible?” “Which material, and why?” “How long before the implant can be placed and loaded?” “Is the graft included in the quoted price, or discovered after the CT scan and charged separately?”
That last question is where many packages come apart. See packages.
This page provides general information and does not replace professional dental advice. A binding plan follows clinical examination and imaging.
Frequently Asked Questions
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