Periodontal Bone Grafts

Have you ever tried to put a screw into a wall, only to have it turn and turn loosely inside some punctured wallboard? One solution, in those instances, is to find a section of wallboard with 2x4 behind it that will allow the screw to sink in and hold. But what if you absolutely need to put that screw where there isn’t any supporting wood? In that case, the most likely option is to reinforce the wallboard by sinking a wall anchor that gives your screw a firm place to take hold.

In the world of dentistry, a similar principle applies to bone grafts. For instance, when a patient is in need of a dental implant, which requires that a metal post be literally screwed into the jaw, there is only one place in the mouth where the dentist can work to do that. And if the missing tooth has been gone for some time, it’s very likely that the jawbone in that space will have deteriorated, simply because the body no longer had a need to maintain that section of bone.

One of the great pieces of good news connected to modern dentistry is that dental specialists can now restore the jaw’s ability to receive an implant through bone grafting.