Do You Really Need a Bone Graft?
Has your dentist told you that you need a bone graft to be a suitable candidate for the dental implant procedure?
Have you ignored missing teeth or been wearing dentures for years? Then, the chances of you needing a bone graft for implantation are extremely high.
A necessary first step in your consultation is that after undertaking a clinical observation of your mouth, the implantologist would have to take a CT scan to help them understand if there is a sufficient amount of density and bone volume that would be able to withstand dental implants.
So, if the results of your CT scan have led to a bone graft procedure recommendation, you should feel confident in your dentist’s assessment.
Bone grafts are essential – you can’t go without one
Dental implants are a superior tooth replacement solution – because they are implanted directly into the jaw, where, over three months, it begins to fuse with the bone – a process called osseointegration.
As implants rely on this process for their success, the chances of implant failure are higher when there’s not enough bone in the jaw, which could cause your implant to feel loose, wobble and even fall out. And you wouldn’t want that after surgery.
Bone grafts build up bone in the jaw that has depleted due to sustained tooth loss. Not replacing teeth immediately has consequences like bone loss, facial sagging, shifting teeth and tooth loss. Even if you’ve been wearing dentures or a bridge for years, the outcome is still the same – bone loss is indefinite.
These prosthetics do nothing to preserve the bone, but you might be pleased that implants do, so you’ll never have to worry about it again.
Bone grafts might seem like an annoying, costly, additional next step – but unfortunately, without one, you won’t be suitable for a dental implant.
Cost of bone grafts
If you need a bone graft, you might need a sinus lift
Sometimes, the two pre-implant procedures go hand in hand. When a patient needs a bone graft but has little room in the upper jaw, they might require a sinus lift to place the extra bone to make implants viable. In these cases, a sinus lift is necessary to make your bone augmentation successful.
The only time you can avoid a bone graft
In edentulous cases (total tooth loss), or when you need a full arch of teeth rehabilitating, you could opt for a dental implant treatment called All on 4, which can replace an entire smile of teeth using four implants without the need for bone grafting.
All on Four is hailed as the graftless solution to replace missing teeth, but like Zygomatic implants, which also avoid bone grafts by being implanted into the cheekbone, the treatment comes at a cost.
Priced in 2023 from around £16,000 per jaw, the full arch prosthesis can replace a row of missing teeth in one day, which means patients can leave their appointment with a brand new (temporary) smile.
