Bone Grafting
Once the tooth exfoliates or is removed, over a period of time the bone supporting the teeth gradually atrophies and gets eventually resorbed. This often leaves a condition in which there is poor quantity of bone available for the placement of dental implants. In these situations, most patients are not candidates for the placement of dental implants.
With bone grafting, we now have the opportunity to not only replace bone where it is missing, but we also have the ability to promote new bone growth in that location. This not only gives us the opportunity to place implants of proper length and width, but it also gives us a chance to restore functionality and aesthetic appearance.
Some of the commonly used bone grafts are:
TYPES OF BONE GRAFT
Autograft: In order to achieve the best results, patient’s own bone is preferred as a graft. This is termed as autograft. Depending on the requirement of the bone, our dental surgeon harvests bone from within the patient’s mouth or other areas. The current gold standard for bone defect repair is still autologous.
Allograft: This graft is harvested from humans other than the recipient himself.
Xenograft: Such grafts are harvested from animals.
Alloplast: These are derived from naturally occurring minerals.
Growth Factors: PRF (Platelet-rich fibrin) membrane helps in wound healing, protects the surgical site, and thereby promoting soft tissue repair. When PRF is mixed with bone graft, it may act as a “biological connector”, which attracts stem cell, favours the migration of osteoprogenitor cells and provides a neo-angiogenesis.
At Teeth Care Centre, we use world’s renowned, highly researched and documented brands for maximum treatment outcome with minimum reactions and cross infections on recipient body. The clinician’s preference for one type of graft or another may depend on several reasons, such as the amount of bone to be regenerated, systemic illness in patient, evidence regarding the material’s performance and safety, expertise and previous experiences, among others.
| BONE GRAFT | SOURCE | ADVANTAGES | DISADVANTAGES |
| Autologous Bone Graft | Own body | – High osteoinductivity
– High osteoconductivity – Highest degree of biological safety – No risk of immune reaction – No risk of disease transmission – Living cells and growth factors |
– Need of an additional surgery |
| Allograft | From other human | – Osteoconductive and sometimes osteoinductive | – Associated with risks of immunoreactions and transmission of infections |
| Xenograft | Animals | – Architecture and geometric structure resemble human bone
– Predictable clinical outcome – Slow bio-absorbability preserves augmented bone volume |
– Possible disease transmission
– Potential unwanted immune reactions – Lacks viable cells and biological components – Resorption rate is highly variable – Only osteoconductive |
| Alloplast | Synthetic | – No risk of disease transmission | – Not predictable absorption
– Only osteoconductive |