Bone Grafting
Rebuild and Restore Lost Bone
Missing teeth, gum disease, injuries, and other factors can all contribute to jaw bone loss. Without stimulation from the roots of your teeth, the bone in the dental ridge will begin to deteriorate. There must be adequate bone in the jaw to support the full length and width of the implants. Bone grafting can replace bone that has been lost due to tooth loss, facial surgery sites, facial trauma, or other causes. By regrowing lost bone, bone grafts help more people become candidates for dental implants.
If you need bone grafting to repair or restore the bone around your teeth or jaw, our oral surgeons can help. Oral Surgery Group offers several bone grafting procedures and will determine the right treatment for your oral health needs. Contact us in New Brunswick, NJ, East Brunswick, NJ, or Middlesex, NJ, to schedule an appointment with Dr. Engel, Dr. Stern, Dr. Simos, Dr. Stern, Dr. Tanchyk, and Dr. Prabhu.
How Bone Grafting Works
During a bone grafting procedure, your oral surgeon will lift the gums and place a mixture of bone material and growth factors over the area that requires more bone growth. The bone material consists of tiny granules that are taken from either your own bone or a tissue bank. Once the material is applied, your surgeon will suture the gums to protect the area.
Bone grafts provide many benefits, including:
- People who were once told they cannot receive dental implants due to insufficient bone can now become candidates
- Prevent long-term health problems associated with tooth loss
- Greatly improve the aesthetics of restorative treatments, such as dental implants or crowns
Types of Bone Grafting
The type of bone grafting you need largely depends on the shape of your jaw and your overall goals for treatment. When designing your custom treatment plan, we use 3D scans to view the structure of your jaw bone. Prior to any surgical procedure, we will discuss your options for anesthesia or sedation. Some of the most common bone grafting procedures include:
Sinus Lift
Everyone has sinuses above their upper teeth on either side of their nose. These sinuses are hollow, and the wall that separates the sinuses from the roots of the upper molars is very thin. When the upper molars need to be replaced with dental implants, sometimes it is impossible to do so without breaching the sinus or causing other problems. Oral surgeons can place a bone graft between the sinus and the molars, making space for a dental implant to be placed.
A sinus lift creates more space in the sinuses for dental implants that are placed in the upper arch.
Ridge Expansion
When severe bone resorption has occurred, the bony ridge that once held the teeth can become too small to hold dental implants. Your surgeon can divide the ridge bone and insert bone grafting material inside. This expands the ridge and makes space for the eventual placement of implants.
Socket Preservation
When a tooth is extracted, the bone around the empty tooth socket can start to resorb or diminish rapidly. A socket preservation prevents the bone loss that tends to happen shortly after an extraction so that an implant can be planned for a future visit. This is ideal if you are having a tooth extracted but do not plan to immediately replace it with a dental implant.
Major Bone Grafting
Sometimes facial injuries, tumor surgery sites, or birth conditions require bone grafting to restore the facial structure. In these situations, oral surgeons use bone sourced from another part of the patient’s body. Special membranes may be used to help the major bone graft site heal correctly and promote soft tissue regeneration.
Bone Grafting in New Brunswick, East Brunswick, and Middlesex, NJ
We offer bone grafting procedures and dental implants at all three of our locations across central New Jersey. Major bone grafting procedures may be done in a hospital setting, but most minor procedures can be performed in our offices. Feel free to contact one of our offices for more information.
Types of Anesthesia
We offer several types of anesthesia to ensure patients remain comfortable in our care.
Hear From Bone Grafting Patients
These patients can tell you about their firsthand experience undergoing bone grafting at our office.
Reviews From Our Bone Grafting Patients
"I have a couple neighbors of mine that use Dr. Engel, and I actually knew of him and have been using him — and my family's been using him — for years. Most recently, I had to have a tooth extracted again, I had to get a bone graft, I had to have my sinus moved up to make room for the implant, and actually in the process of getting the final tooth put into my mouth. I love coming to dentists. I actually could sleep through just about anything. I wasn't nervous at all. I actually recovered pretty quickly. I went right back to work that day; my office is right down the street. What I say to my friends and family if they're needing an oral surgeon is I tell them that I have the best guy for them. Dr. Engel is a great guy to come see if you have a problem with your teeth and you need some oral surgery."
"I cracked my tooth on July 4th, so the whole weekend I was in a lot of pain. Besides being in pain, I was pretty nervous. The team here is very understanding and very professional. Dr. Simos has a very calm manner—very soft-spoken but very professional. The procedure went great. The overall experience has been terrific. In fact, I’ve been back here three or four times, and it’ll be the place that I go to every time I need to have some kind of oral surgery done. I’d give Oral Surgery Group five stars out of five. They were excellent."
"I needed to find an oral surgeon. I had a cap for many years that fell out, and I was really very pleased upon the first time meeting the front desk, and they walked me in, and I met Dr. Simos, and it was a perfect consultation appointment. My procedure with my one implant went great. I had the bone grafting. It all worked out, and I had full trust in Dr. Simos, and it worked out very well, and I just was so pleased with the whole process, the whole office. I would recommend the Oral Surgery Group just for their organization. They’re just so nice — all the girls and the staff and the doctors."
"Well, I came to Dr. Simos as a recommendation from my own dentist, who I guess had used him for his own parents and his children. So I thought that was a good recommendation, so I've been with Dr. Simos for two dental procedures. For the first procedure, removing two teeth I had worked on – upper left and upper right – putting in the bone grafting material, waiting for quite a while for that to heal, and putting the posts in. No pain, no bleeding, no swelling. Even though I was kind of uncertain in the very beginning, it wound up being a good deal for me. My implants feel much stronger than my natural teeth did. Dr. Simos is a very nice guy. Calm and peaceful guy — kind of fits my personality, as well. The nurses were very attentive and very efficient. The staff was great as far as administration, so I had a good relationship with the whole organization, and I would certainly tell my people to come here as well."
"Dr. Simos does a wonderful job, and I’m very comfortable having him work on my mouth. I have been here several times. He’s done several extractions. I’ve had a bone graft and then an implant put in. They’re pretty comfortable once they’re in. They heal pretty quickly. I think the skill of Dr. Simos facilitates that and makes it happen. He also is very kind and very gentle. The staff is fabulous in the Oral Surgery Group. They’re always kind, and I think kindness is a very special trait. If any of my friends in South Plainfield, New Brunswick, Monroe needed a dental implant, I would highly recommend the Oral Surgery Group."
Decades of Trusted Care
Start your journey to better oral health and a more confident smile at Oral Surgery Group. Our compassionate team of specialists will walk you through every step, answer your questions, and make you feel like a part of our family. Learn more about us or schedule an appointment.