Bone Grafting

What is bone grafting?

Bone grafting refers to the replacement of lost or missing bone. This may be in the jaw following surgery or trauma, or it may be in the alveolar bone, the part of your jaw that forms the ridges that hold your teeth. This provides the bone with sufficient height, width and strength to support a dental implant or the wearing of dentures.

Bone grafting is also used to repair bone that’s been lost around teeth if you’ve suffered from severe gum disease. Not only does the bone graft replace bone that’s been lost, but it also encourages regrowth of your own healthy bone.

Why would you need bone grafting surgery?

The most common reason for bone grafting surgery is bone loss. If you have lost a tooth or several teeth because of injury, cavities or gum disease, you are likely to suffer bone loss if the teeth have not been replaced. The pressure you apply to teeth as you eat keeps your jawbone strong, but with tooth loss the alveolar bone gradually breaks down and ‘resorbs’, which means that the bone is reabsorbed into the body.

Badly misaligned teeth that don’t allow for proper chewing can also lead to bone loss because the bone around those teeth is not stimulated sufficiently to keep it strong and healthy. 

Trauma to the jaw or surgery to the jaw to remove a cyst or tumour can also result in bone loss. 

What does the bone grafting procedure involve?

Bone grafting can be a minor procedure or it can be extensive, depending on how thin or soft your alveolar bone is.  At your pre-operative consultation, Dr McNamara will discuss with you the extent of bone grafting you’ll need.

Prior to surgery, you will have a dental cone beam CT image taken, which will give a 3-D image of your teeth and your oral and maxillofacial area (your mouth, jaw and neck). This is a non-invasive procedure which will help Dr McNamara identify what needs to be done.    

Small bone grafting can be done under local anaesthetic. In this case you will be in the dental chair when Dr McNamara performs the procedure.  For more significant bone grafting, you will be administered a general anaesthetic.

For the procedure Dr Zeb McNamara usually takes a small portion of bone from your jawbone, but he may also take bone from other sites.

How long will you take to recover from bone grafting?

Your recovery time will depend on the extent of the bone graft. Immediately after the surgery you will feel some discomfort, just as you would after a tooth extraction, and you may experience some swelling. Applying an ice pack to your face a few times during the first 24 hours after surgery will help minimise the swelling because it prevents blood from flooding the gum tissue. Dr Zeb McNamara will prescribe anti-inflammatory medication if you need it.

Drink plenty of fluids during the first day after bone grafting surgery, and eat soft, cool foods. Avoid chewing on the site of the graft, and keep away from any foods that are crunchy or hard so that no food particles get lodged in the graft site. 

It can take several months for the bone to heal well, but you can return to normal non-strenuous activities within a few days after the bone grafting surgery.

For further reading, please see our Post Operative Care Instructions for more information about your recovery after General Anaesthetic surgery.  

What are the risks of the procedure?

All surgery carries some risks, although with bone grafting the risks are low. Dr Zeb McNamara will discuss with you any risks of the bone grafting procedure at your pre-operative consultation.