Why do I need block bone grafting?

[Ella]

Hi

I had a sport accident two years ago and lost my front tooth as a result of the accident. I had a plate fitted for the past two years as a temporary solution whilst I saved up for a dental implant.

I have been to see my dentist recently and he told me that he can place an implant for me but I will need to have a block bone graft procedure first. Can you explain why I need a bone block graft because as far as I am aware, I did not lose any bone in the accident.

[Dr Vahid Motahar]

Dear Ella

Thank you for your post.

Dental implants are designed to follow the tooth structure. They have a section which is the actual implant and is inserted in the bone like the way the root of a tooth is in the bone.

When a tooth is lost for what ever reason and root of the tooth is gone, over time the body removes the bone from that area as it does not see any reason for keeping the bone where it is not needed. This bone loss can have a three dimentional effect and bone can be lost in height or/and width. So what will happen when the missing tooth is going to be replaced by a dental implant and the bone is lost?

If not enough bone is present no implant can be placed and hence the need for bone grafting to build up the bone level in what ever dimenssion that is needed to allow implant placement. Block bone grafting is suggested when substantial bone is lost over time.

Bone source can be from a donor site in the body like jaw bone (autogenic bone graft), from a tissue bank (allogenic) or someother sources like synthetic block bone graft and each has its own pros and cons. Block of bone is shapped and cut into the size of boney defect and then secured onto the bone by means of pins to allow oseointegeration over a 6 months period.

Before an implant can be planned for placement a good assessment of the bone is needed and during the consultation visit the bone level is assessed and treatment plan in devised.

At pearl dental clinic we carry out a large number of block bone grafting where ever it is needed to build up bone level for implant placement and if you wish to have a second opinion or further assessment we would be very happy to help.