Oral Surgery

Once your tooth is removed, your jaw bone will begin to remodel, or change.   Over time, it begins to slowly erode until it creates a hollow or a basin-shaped divot in the jaw bone. If you try to place a bridge or implant in a spot where the natural bone and gum tissue is much lower than the surrounding areas, it may not look right. Placing a tooth in an area where the bone level is very low is going to make you look really long toothed. Bone grafts can help protect the area.

Small Bone Grafts – After Dr. Hemphill extracts your damaged tooth he may preserve the bone in the area using a simple bone grafting procedure. Demineralized, sterile human bone granules, (that look like coarse sand) are packed into the tooth socket immediately after tooth extraction. The granules are covered with a protective collagen membrane. After placing the granules Dr. Hemphill with close the tooth socket with a few stitches. Over the next several weeks your bone will fill the tooth socket and preserve the bone height.

Large Bone Grafts – Patients that have been missing teeth for an extended period of time will often experience advanced bone loss. In denture wearers, for example, the lower jaw bone often recedes so badly that their dentures stop fitting properly. The jaw bone can be pencil thin in severe cases. These patients have a hard time wearing a lower denture and occasionally do not have enough jaw bone for dental implants. In these severe cases, extensive bone grafting is necessary to restore missing teeth. The procedure for large bone grafts is as follows:

• A combination of demineralized, sterile human bone and the patient’s own bone is used to build up the jaw bone.
• The patient’s bone is supplied by another part of their jaw, hip or tibia in the form of a small block.
• The block is anchored in place using specialized bone screws and sometimes plates.
• Bone granules are used to enhance the graft
• The entire site is protected with a membrane, closed tightly and left to heal for several months.