WatchBone Grafting
Why a dental bone graft comes before the implant at Dr. Raffi General & Implant Dentistry
Jawbone needs a tooth root to stay stimulated. Once a tooth is gone and nothing replaces it, that bone starts to shrink through a process called resorption, and given enough months or years, too little remains to anchor a future dental implant. A dental bone graft solves that by rebuilding the lost volume until your jaw can support a permanent replacement tooth again.
Two grafting approaches come up most often in this video. Bone augmentation packs small particles of grafting material into the area to restore height and width, then covers it with a protective membrane while it heals. When the defect is larger, a block graft is shaped to fit the exact site and held in place with tiny titanium screws as it integrates over several months.
There's also ridge preservation, which we frequently recommend the moment a tooth is extracted rather than waiting. Packing grafting material into the socket right away heads off most of the bone loss that would otherwise follow, which keeps future implant placement far more straightforward.
Some cases use graft material from your own body, others from a carefully processed donor source, and your doctor will walk you through which fits your case. Whether implants are already on your mind or an extraction is coming up, ask us whether grafting belongs in your treatment plan.
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6215 W Touhy Ave
Chicago, IL 60646
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