At Skin & Smiles over 60% of our implant cases require some type of bone grafting. We have a success rate of over 98% in this procedure and so if you require this type of grafting you will be in good hands.
A common abbreviation for this process is GBR.
There are numerous materials that are currently available for increasing bone. We will inform you about the alternative treatment methods and the materials that are available. We only use a synthetic graft material.
There is, of course, the option of using your own bone in the graft procedure. This tends to require more than one surgical site and has its own pros and cons. We will discuss this with you.
If you do not have enough of your own bone available for us to be able to stabilise a tooth or to securely anchor a dental implant, GBR will be used to increase your own bone, thus providing us with an adequate amount for the procedure you require. Graft materials act a solid scaffold which serve as a guide-rail to allow new bone to grow.
This scaffolding material enables and facilitates bone formation in the area where the operation is performed. It is inserted into the operation area in the form of grains or small blocks. Your own bone slowly grows into the graft material, which at a later time is gradually broken down by the body.
At Skin & Smiles all of our grafting is done with a fully synthetic bone-like particulate materials. Bone regeneration is supported by this material composition, similar structure to bone and the resulting resorption characteristics.
The particulate is placed into the void either beside/against an implant or into a void to preserve the natural shape of bone. It is then wrapped with a collagen membrane (see below). Healing will take between 3-4 months in most people but longer in those that may have medical conditions such as diabetes and osteoporosis.
Bone grafting of any sort is negatively affected by smoking as this reduces the blood flow to the oral tissues. We will advise you to stop smoking for at least 4 days before and 4 days after surgery if you will be having any sort of grafting. If you continue to smoke after this period and the graft is not successful then subsequent procedures may not be possible or be adversely affected.
We recommend the use of high dose Calcium supplements to aid the body during healing when you have had a graft. These are readily available from High Street stores such as Holland & Barrett. Calcium metabolism requires the presence of Vitamin D and so we recommend a combined supplement.
We can use the body’s own bone, which is taken from a different location, for example the local area to the primary surgical site, the chin or back of the lower jaw. However this procedure requires additional anaesthesia. Once the bone is harvested from its original site it is then inserted into the operation area. In this procedure, the following must be considered:
A membrane made of collagen is generally used to cover the bone replacement material. It has been proven that better healing rates are achieved when the bone particles are covered with a membrane because the tissues of the gum grow more rapidly than the new bone and the membrane protects the particles from this faster growing connective tissue. This ensures that the underlying bone can heal in an undisturbed fashion.
The membranes are composed of highly purified natural collagen obtained from pigs. The collagen membrane becomes completely broken down by the body, hence a further operation to remove it is unnecessary.
