Beck Internal Bone Grafting

What is a Bone Graft?

There are many types of bone graft procedures done in oral and periodontal surgery. The most common types of these bone graft procedures includes the use of a bone mineral powder that is used to stimulate your stem cells to grow new bone, whether it be around a tooth or for a dental implant. This bone mineral powder originates from real human bone and is processed in tissue banks to ensure the highest safety standards and effectively prevent the transmission of any disease or infections to the recipient.  This type of bone grafting is done routinely all over the world with great success.

Reasons You May Need A Bone Grafting

There are a number of reasons why San Diego patients may be looking for a bone graft in San Diego. The most common reason is to prepare and strengthen weakened bone so it will be strong enough to receive a dental implant. If you require a tooth extraction, a bone graft is often needed to preserve the shape of your jaw and overlying gum, allowing a comfortable and natural-appearing replacement tooth with minimal trauma to neighboring healthy teeth. If you have experienced any swelling or infection in the area, it is likely that the jaw bone or neighboring teeth may have been compromised; and additional bone grafting may be required to repair the damage. Alternatively, if you’ve been missing a tooth for some time, or if you have had severe gum disease, bone in the affected area might (and likely will) have been further damaged. A bone graft can easily replace missing bone and even stimulate new bone growth, so your mouth will be able to support a dental implant. At Southern California Periodontics and Implantology, we utilize state-of-the-art technology, like our in-house three-dimensional conebeam CT, to evaluate your individual needs.
Video: Watch Dr. Beck-Mayo explain why you may need a bone grafting.

Types of bone grafting for Dental Implants

Ridge Preservation

In most cases it is critical to perform a bone graft immediately at the time of a tooth extraction to ensure that adequate bone will be present to support a future implant and to minimize bone loss and gum recession of neighboring teeth. A bone graft done simultaneously with a tooth extraction is called a ridge preservation procedure.  San Diego’s Dr. Beck-Mayo is experienced on this technique, having performed it thousands of times.  Dr. Beck-Mayo spent 3 years studying this topic for her masters degree and published her research in a world- renowned medical journal.

Contact San Diego’s Experienced Periodontist

As a highly-trained and skilled periodontist, Dr. Beck-Mayo is highly sought after by patients who are suffering from their oral health. Whether you have been told you have periodontal disease, or you have loose or missing teeth that need to be replaced with dental implants, you can trust Dr. Beck-Mayo and her team to support you every step of the way, and make sure you get the high-quality care you deserve. Call her office today to schedule your first appointment!

Request a Consultation

Ridge preservation grafting is a highly successful and virtually painless procedure, which can prevent severe and permanent consequences, including deformation of your jaw bone, compromised bone support and severe gum recession of neighboring teeth. Delaying treatment may require painful, complicated and expensive reconstruction procedures in an attempt to repair the damage. As a highly trained board certified periodontal surgeon, Dr. Beck-Mayo specializes in both simple and complex bone grafting in San Diego, to ensure safe and successful outcomes that will be stable for a lifetime. At Southern California Periodontics & Implantology, we strongly believe that ridge preservation bone grafting provides the most predictable & esthetic long-term implant results.

Video: Watch our 3D animation for a detailed explanation on the bone graft process.

Sinus Grafting

The sinus is an empty space inside you upper jaw, just above your back teeth. If you’ve ever suffered from severe allergies or sinus congestion, you’ve probably felt the pressure deep inside your cheek bones. This is where the sinus is located. In some cases the upper tooth roots actually extend into the sinus! Often times, when an upper back tooth is removed and a dental implant is desired to replace it, a sinus augmentation (AKA sinus graft) is required. There are many different ways to achieve this, depending on how much additional bone is required to support the future implant,how long the tooth has been missing, how many teeth are missing, and how many implants will be needed. In most cases, a minimally invasive “crestal sinus lift” can be performed at the same time as implant placement.This procedure adds a small amount of bone into the sinus immediately before placing a dental implant.  During the next 3-4 months, the body breaks down the bone graft and replaces with your own bone.

A sinus graft procedure can be performed with just local anesthetic (numbing), but sedation options are also available to minimize any stress or anxiety one may have about the procedure.  The procedure is virtually painless, with most  San Diego patients needing nothing more than ibuprofen (advil) during recovery and are able to return to work and normal activities within a day or two. If the tooth has been missing for an extended period of time, the jaw bone can become very thin and an alternative and more complex approach may be required. This is one reason why one should not delay replacement of missing teeth with dental implants. The longer the tooth is missing, the weaker the jaw bone becomes, and more complex (and expensive) procedures may be needed to restore it to its previous strength so that a dental implant can be placed.  If you are missing an upper molar and think you may require a sinus procedure to support a dental implant, call us today for a consultation.  We will fully evaluate the area of the planned dental implant utilizing our state-of-the-art in-house 3D CT scanning machine.

Video: Watch our 3D animation video to learn more about the sinus lift process.

Periodontal Bone Graft

Another type of bone graft procedure that one Dr. Beck-Mayo specializes in is to repair bone damage to a tooth or implant due to chronic periodontitis or infection.  These procedures are referred to as periodontal regeneration and are often done in combination with other techniques, depending on the extent of damage that requires repair.  Severe gum disease (“chronic periodontitis”) results in damage to the bone surrounding affected teeth and can irreversibly compromise the long term health and stability of several teeth in the area.  In some cases it is possible to actually grow back previously infected and damaged bone, and improving the tooth’s long term health and stability.  See our page on advanced periodontal procedures for more information.

Contact Dr. Beck-Mayo in San Diego for a bone grafting consultation at (858) 924-0191.