BONE GRAFTING
Considered a preparatory procedure in nature, dental bone grafting is usually intended to facilitate dental implants. During the surgical procedure bone is harvested from the patient’s own body and then applied to the jawbone in an area underneath the gum line. Eventually over time the transplanted bone will join to the patient’s own jawbone and start growing and develop strength. This usually takes several months before any additional dental procedures can proceed.
Natural Organic Material
It is important to note that there are three different types of bone grafting in use today. These are known as xenograft, autograft and allograft. An autograft is a type of procedure where the bone is harvested from the patient’s hip, jaw or chin. Because the material is the patient’s own natural organic material it is considered to be most compatible genetically when performing dental augmentation of this nature. In addition this particular procedure is often most preferred because of the greater levels of bone regeneration that it makes possible.
Quality Regeneration
In cases where autograft is not possible, an allograft or xenograft can be used. With the allograft, bone material is typically sourced from human cadavers. This type of bone sourcing involves extensive and highly specialized sterilization and genetic testing. Even with genetic variances this type of bone grafting has the potential to produce high levels of quality regeneration of bone for the patient. Conversely, xenografts rely upon bone material that is sourced from bovine donors.
Sterilized and Processed
In other words, xenografts rely upon bone material that is harvested from cows. As with other types of sourced bone material, this material is also thoroughly sterilized and processed to make it highly compatible with the patient’s own bone. In this type of procedure, the bovine material will eventually degrade and be replaced by the patient’s natural bone material. Finally, patients can also choose from a variety of synthetic materials that are increasingly being used today in bone grafting. Contact your Pinole dentist, Dr. Hosseini at Top Pinole Dental today for more information on modern bone grafting.