Home / Bone Grafting
Foundation work
"Not enough bone"
is a starting point,
not a verdict.
Bone exists to hold teeth. Take the tooth away and the ridge narrows and shortens — most of it within the first year. Grafting rebuilds the foundation so the implant can sit where the tooth belongs, rather than where the leftovers allow.
Why patients come here
- Practice limited to prosthodontics and oral implantology
- Every case CBCT-scanned and fully guided
- IV conscious sedation available in-office
- A written, itemized plan before anything is scheduled
What it involves
Material, membrane, and time.
A graft is a scaffold. Particulate material is placed into the defect and covered with a barrier membrane that keeps faster-growing gum tissue from filling the space before bone can. Over months your own bone replaces the scaffold.
Material is chosen for the job: your own bone where volume and speed matter, processed human or bovine mineral for space maintenance, synthetics where appropriate. In many cases they are combined.
The smallest and most valuable version is ridge preservation — grafting the socket at the moment a tooth is extracted. It is a short addition to an appointment you are already having, and it prevents most of the collapse that would otherwise need rebuilding later.
Types
Four procedures under one name.
Ridge preservation
Graft placed into the socket at extraction to hold the shape of the ridge. Adds little to the visit and prevents most later reconstruction. Heals in 3–4 months.
Guided bone regeneration
Particulate graft plus a membrane to rebuild width, often done at the same time as implant placement where the defect is contained.
Block or staged augmentation
For larger defects, where volume has to be rebuilt and allowed to mature before an implant can be placed. Adds 4–6 months to the plan.
Sinus elevation
The upper back jaw sits under the sinus, so height is gained by lifting the sinus floor and grafting beneath it. Covered on its own page.
Step by step
What grafting actually does to a socket.
The sequence: an extraction socket, grafted, healed, and finally carrying an implant in bone that would otherwise have collapsed. Beside it, the same kind of site measured on CBCT and then planned.
Recovery
What the days after look like.
Most grafts are done under local anesthetic, with sedation available. Swelling peaks around day three. Discomfort is usually managed with over-the-counter medication; anything more is prescribed before you leave.
- Soft diet on the graft side for the first week or two
- No smoking — it is the single biggest modifiable risk to a graft taking
- A prescribed rinse rather than brushing directly over the site at first
- Occasional small granules in the mouth in the first days is normal and not a sign of failure
- A review at one to two weeks, then imaging before the implant stage
Grafts are highly predictable but not certain. If a site does not mature as expected, it is re-imaged and re-planned rather than pressed on with.
Start with a scan and a straight answer.
A consultation includes an examination, a 3D scan and a written, itemized plan. If implants are not the right treatment for you, we will say so and tell you what is.