Interested In A Full Arch Rehabilitation? All About Bone Grafts

Are you missing multiple teeth in your upper or lower arch? If so, you may want to talk to your dentist about full arch rehabilitation, or reconstruction. During arch rehabilitation, a dentist will use multiple implants, crowns, bridges, and other dental restorations to reestablish aesthetics and functionality. However, if a patient has severe bone atrophy or loss in the arch due to extractions, periodontal disease, etc., a dentist may recommend bone grafting during this rehabilitation. Bone grafts help support implants and other restorations. Read on to learn more about different types of bone grafts and why they are used.  

What Types of Bone Grafts are Used for Arch Rehabilitation?

The main types of bone grafts that can be used during arch rehabilitation are autografts, allografts, and xenografts.

Autografts

Bone autografts are taken from other areas of the body on the patient. For instance, if a patient has healthy tissue in the upper palate, a graft can be taken from that area and then placed in the arch. Autografts are the gold standard for bone grafts since they integrate well into the current jawbone and have good stability. The main downside of this graft is that a person will need two procedures: one to extract the bone graft material and one to place it.

Allografts and Xenografts

Bone allografts are taken from donor or cadaver bone. Xenografts are taken from non-human donors, such as pigs or cows. Whatever the source, all bone grafts are cleaned and sterilized, so they can integrate well into the arch.

What Types of Grafting Procedures are Used During Full Arch Rehabilitation?

Patients do not typically need to be asleep for a grafting procedure. Your dentist will numb the area with a local anesthetic, place a small incision in the gums, disinfect the area, and place the graft. Once the graft is placed under the gumline, the site is closed with sutures. Your dentist might place a graft during a ridge augmentation, socket preservation, or sinus lift procedure.

Arch Augmentation

If you have been missing teeth for quite a while, then your arch may have lost some height and width. To support dental implants, this height and width need to be restored with a bone graft. During this procedure, your dentist will place a bone graft and use instruments to re-contour the arch into a more ideal shape.

Socket Preservation

If you still have some teeth in your arch that are in poor condition, your dentist may need to perform an extraction before an arch reconstruction. During the extraction process, your dentist can place a bone graft into the empty socket. This socket preservation can reduce the need for arch augmentation.

Sinus Lift

If you need to eventually replace teeth in the upper arch, your dentist might recommend a sinus lift. When teeth are missing in the upper arch, the sinus cavity can actually drop down and invade the space that was once occupied by tooth roots. During a sinus lift, your dentist will raise the sinus membrane, and then place bone grafting material in the upper arch.  

Reach out to your dentist today for more information.