When you lose your natural teeth, this could lead to a cascade of oral health complications, weakening your jaw and even limiting your ability to receive dental implants. But we can help strengthen your smile, ensuring it is implant-ready. In today’s blog, your Santa Rosa, CA, oral surgeons talk about jawbone grafting and sinus lift procedures!
The Weakening of Your Jaw
How does tooth loss impact your jawbone strength? When we lose teeth, the body will stop sending doses of calcium and phosphorus to the areas around the missing roots. Deprived of these nutrients, the jawbone itself begins to weaken and wear down. As you lose mass and density in the smile, this could mean additional missing teeth. Without enough structure to support dental implants, your tooth replacement options are severely limited. But we can fortify the upper and lower portions to ensure your smile can support dental implants.
Grafting
The jawbone grafting procedure can strengthen the lower jaw. The procedure involves adding new tissues to the weakened portions. We will take digital images with digital x-rays and CBCT imaging, so we can plan the procedure in detail. With local anesthetic and sedation, we can ensure you are comfortable throughout the procedure. Our team will surgically add new structures to the jaw. These could be taken from the rear of your own jaw, your hip, or your knee. We could also use synthetic or donor tissues too. Once these are inserted, they bond with it and act as new structure, so you have enough tissues to support dental implants. Once they are in place, they also help keep the smile intact!
Sinus Lift
What about the upper portion? Instead of adding new tissues, we will essentially raise the sinus floor to uncover new structures that can support one or more dental implants. This means you can enjoy a full smile again, whether you need an implant-supported bridge or even a full set of fixed dentures. With options like All-On-Four, we can even secure a full set of fixed dentures in only one visit.
If you have any questions about how we tackle tooth loss and help strengthen the jaw as needed, let us know. We want to help you start 2025 on the path to a new and full smile, one that looks good and functions like a natural one.
Ask Our Team About Strengthening Your Smile
Our team is ready to help you fortify your smile so it can receive one or more dental implants. To schedule an appointment with your Santa Rosa, CA, dentists, call our office today at 707-545-4625. We look forward to seeing you!