Oral Surgery
Bone Grafts in Downtown Los Angeles
Putting back the foundation before building on it.
Bone grafting restores structure lost to periodontitis, rebuilding the jawbone so it can support your remaining teeth and give future restorations something solid to sit on. At Smile LA Downtown Modern Dentistry it is usually the step that makes the rest of a plan possible.
The causes
Why bone is lost in the first place
Bone is not permanent scaffolding — it responds to what is asked of it. A tooth root loads the jaw every time you bite, and that load is the signal that tells the bone to maintain itself. Take the tooth away and the signal goes with it: the socket remodels, the ridge narrows, and bone that is no longer carrying anything is gradually resorbed. Gum disease does the same damage by a different route, reaching the bone from the outside once it has passed into its advanced stage. Either way the result is the same — not enough structure left to hold whatever needs to go there next. The three causes below account for most of what we see, and more than one of them is often at work in the same mouth.
- Advanced periodontitis The third stage of gum disease affects the bone supporting your teeth, and untreated it causes tooth loss. See gum disease.
- Missing teeth Bone that is no longer loaded by a tooth root resorbs. This is also why an unstabilized denture allows bone loss.
- Extraction The socket remodels after a tooth comes out, and the ridge narrows.
What it achieves
What grafting achieves
It rebuilds the jawbone — supporting the teeth that remain, and providing a solid foundation for restorations that would otherwise not be possible. Most often that means implants: implant success varies with bone density, so where there is not enough, the graft comes first and the implant follows.
Where the graft goes
Wherever the deficiency is. In the upper back jaw the issue is often height rather than width, and there the specific procedure is a sinus lift. Where the loss is around a tooth being saved rather than replaced, guided tissue regeneration is the related technique.
What we have not put here
Healing times and graft materials vary with the site and the individual, and we would rather give you an accurate answer for your case at a consultation than a general one on a web page. Longer surgical appointments are also where IV sedation is most often used.
Bone Graft FAQ
- Why would I need a bone graft?
- To restore bone lost to periodontitis or to tooth loss — either to support the teeth that remain, or to give an implant a solid foundation.
- Do all implants need one?
- No. Implant success varies with bone density and position, so a graft is needed only where the scan shows there is not enough bone.
- What is the difference between a graft and a sinus lift?
- A sinus lift is the specific procedure for gaining height in the upper back jaw. Grafting more generally rebuilds bone wherever it is deficient.
- How long does it take to heal?
- That depends on the site and the individual, so we would rather answer it accurately at your consultation.
