Statistics have revealed that about 70% of adults lose at least seven teeth by the time they turn 64 years old. This tooth loss commonly follows trauma and severe dental infections. The space left on the gums makes speaking and eating difficult and leaves your gums prone to a range of diseases.
The gold standard option for filling this space is a dental implant. Dental implants placed in West Valley, Utah clinics are small titanium or ceramic posts that are put into your jawbone. The posts provide support for the placement of dentures, crowns or bridges in those who have lost an entire arch of teeth or one tooth.
The patient’s jawbone should be strong enough to support the placement of implants, but this is not a hindrance to their use. The following are a few pre-treatment procedures the dentist might recommend if your jawbone is not adequately strong to support the implants.
Sinus Lift
In this procedure, the dentist will add a bone to your upper jaws. Sinus lifts are used for those who have inadequate height on their upper jawbone and those whose sinuses are very close to their jaws. During the procedure, space will be created on your maxillary sinus’ base and a bone graft will be inserted into this space. This raises the sinus floor and offers enough room for the placement of an implant on the upper jaws. After your sinus lift, you will need six to nine months before the installation of a dental implant for the area to be sufficiently healed.
Soft or Connective Tissue Grafting
This is designed to build your bone’s density and mass. There are different types of grafts used before dental implant placement including autografts, allografts and xenografts. These grafts are secured to your jaw using absorbable sutures and the grafted and sometimes harvest areas are given six to nine months for healing. After the healing period, the achieved bone density is assessed, and if not adequate, your dentist might recommend a re-grafting. If sufficient, implants are then inserted onto the grafted jawbone.
Periodontal Treatments
Gum disease is one of the most common issues that contribute to jawbone loss. Before the placement of your implants, the dentist will treat any periodontal conditions if present. Based on the severity of your condition, there are different treatments the dentist will recommend. Antibiotics, dental cleaning and scaling, and root planing are some of the standard procedures. The treatments will avert future bone loss and can be coupled with bone grafts if bone loss has occurred already.
Ridge Augmentation
This resembles a soft or connective tissue graft. Ridge augmentation aims to recreate your gum’s natural contours and boost your jaw’s strength and volume. There are different techniques used in the procedure including guided bone regeneration, ridge splitting, block grafting and infused bone grafting.
Without an adequate jawbone density, the chances of treatment failure with your implants are high. The above procedures are inexpensive, take a short time and significantly boost your chances of dental implant placement success. After your pre-treatment recovery, the dentist will create an incision on the healed site and then insert the implant posts and close the site.
