Hi sadie,
Anytime a tooth is extracted there will be some degree of bone loss. The hole where the tooth was will fill in but not completely. Over time the bone will recede further until the ridge is flat. The bone graft that is packed into this hole will stimulate the growth of new bone to integrate with it. So the graft eventually becomes your own bone reducing the overall loss of bone. In most patients, even if an implant is not placed in this bone, the loss of bone will be less than if no bone graft were placed. Some people will naturally have less bone loss than others..... its an individual thing and is not predictable.
Generally if a tooth was removed due to reasons other than infection or if the infection was caught early on .... an immediate implant can be placed without using bone graft material.
It is "ideal" to have the implant placed within 6 months or so after the bone grafting. This is the midway stage of healing and if it is successful then the implant will integrate nicely with the bone as the socket heals completely over the course of the next 6 months.
Bryanna
Quote:
Originally Posted by sadie682
That was very clear, Bryanna! Thank you!
Just a couple more if you have the chance:
Does everyone need a bone graft to get an implant? Is it ever possible to have enough bone following the extraction to do implant without grafting?
Does this mean I could have the bone graft and wait up to a year to have the implant?
Just wondering how to get through all this as efficiently (and with as little jaw trauma) as possible. And trying to be more informed than I was before my first root canal!
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