Bone Grafting

What Is Dental Bone Grafting?

A bone graft rebuilds jawbone that has been lost to extraction, gum disease, injury or long-term denture wear. Grafting material is placed where the bone is deficient and acts as a scaffold, and over several months your own bone grows through and replaces it.

Why It May Be Needed

The jaw only keeps its volume while it is being loaded by tooth roots. Once a tooth is gone, the bone around the socket begins to shrink. If there is not enough height or width left, a dental implant cannot be placed securely — so grafting is often the step that makes implant treatment possible.

Grafting is also used to repair bone destroyed around teeth by advanced periodontal disease, and to build up the ridge so that a denture or bridge sits better.

What to Expect

Most grafts are a straightforward procedure done under local anesthetic. Graft material may come from a tissue bank, from an animal or synthetic source, or occasionally from elsewhere in your own jaw. Mild swelling for a few days is normal, and healing time before the next stage of treatment typically runs from three to nine months depending on the size of the graft.