When suffering from tooth loss, you could actually lose mass and density in your jaw. A weakened jaw may not be able to support dental implants. To rebuild and strengthen the smile, our team could provide laser-assisted jawbone grafting. In today’s blog, your Encinitas/ San Diego, CA, periodontist talks about preparing smiles for dental implant placement.
The Weakening of Your Jawbone
When we lose natural teeth, the body will register the loss of your tooth root. Without these roots, the body suspends the flow of calcium and phosphorus to the bone tissue around these lost roots. Over time, depriving the jaw of these nutrients causes the bone tissue to break down, leading to further tooth also and for many, a prematurely aged appearance. As it weakens, this could also prevent you from being able to support dental implants to replace your lost teeth. When we see people who have lost teeth to periodontal disease and have a jaw weakened, we can help rebuild it with grafting.
The Grafting Process
Bone grafting helps strengthen the lower jaw, so your smile can support dental implants and you can preserve your youthful facial features. Our team will begin by carefully examining the smile with digital imaging technology, so we can plan the procedure in detail. New structure is added to the weakened portions of your jaw, taken from the rear of your jaw, your hip, or from your knee. We can also use synthetic options too. These new tissues provide a way to stimulate the growth of new structure, so your jaw is fortified. When the area heals and we add dental implants, this can also preserve the jaw, keeping it strong and providing support for your new teeth, which can last decades as opposed to the handful of years traditional bridges and removable dentures offer patients.
Administering Treatment with Dental Lasers
Our team will use dental lasers to gently and precisely reshape and modify the gum and bone tissues as part of the treatment. We preserve the smile to make the process minimally invasive, and also target the areas with precision to protect healthy tissues in the process. The use of dental lasers also means a faster healing time, and a reduced risk of bleeding, swelling, and infection. Our team can also use this technology to aid in gum grafting, or to remove diseased tissues to help healthy gums reattach to the teeth.
If you have any questions about treating tooth loss with dental implants, or conducting a gum grafting procedure with detail and precision, then contact our team today to learn more.
Do You Have Missing Teeth?
Our team wants to make sure your smile is ready for dental implant placement. If you would like to find out more about grafting and laser dentistry, please call Dr. Kania’s laser periodontal office in Encinitas/San Diego, CA, at (760) 642-0711.