Periodontal disease, once it reaches the periodontitis stage, could cause tooth loss and weaken the jawbone, limiting your ability to receive dental implants. In addition to managing your gum disease, our team can strengthen your smile with grafting. In today’s blog, your Encinitas/San Diego, CA, periodontist talks about our laser-assisted jawbone grafting procedure.
The Connection Between Periodontal Disease, Tooth Loss, and Weakened Jawbone
When you have periodontitis, this could sever the connective tissues between the teeth and the gums. When this happens, you develop tooth loss. In fact, this is the number one cause of adult tooth loss! When this happens, your body will stop sending doses of calcium and phosphorus to the areas where the root has gone missing. As a result, the jawbone weakens and breaks down, leading to further tooth loss and an older appearance. You could find yourself without enough structure to support dental implants! But we can strengthen the smile with laser-assisted jawbone grafting.
The Ridge Augmentation Procedure
Our team will conduct a ridge augmentation, also known as jawbone grafting, to strengthen your lower jaw so it can support one or more dental implants. The procedure involves adding new issues to the weakened areas. These could be taken from the rear of your jaw, your hip, or your knee bone. We could also use synthetic sources as well. When applied to the jaw, these strengthen it and provide new structures. Once we insert dental implants into the areas, this will keep your smile intact as the body accepts these titanium posts as natural roots.
Help With Dental Lasers
To ensure treatment with care and precision, we can employ dental lasers. These have been specially calibrated to handle the tissues in your smile. We can use them to adjust the gums and underlying connective tissues, preparing your smile for the grafting procedure. They also destroy harmful bacteria as well, limiting the risk of infection and other complications. We could also make adjustments to your gums with them to ensure proper placement for your dental implants.
If you have any questions about how we strengthen your lower jaw and place dental implants, or if you have missing teeth and need to seek treatment, then contact our team today to get started. We look forward to boosting your gum health and improving your smile, even addressing missing teeth!
Schedule Your Visit to Strengthen Your Smile
We would like to help you shore up your jaw to ensure it can receive dental implants! To learn more about grafting and laser dentistry, call Dr. Ann Kania in Encinitas, CA, today at 760-642-0711. Our team wants to help ensure good gum health and a full smile for years to come, so let us know if you have periodontal concerns that need attention.