Bone Grafts at St Marys Dental Clinic NSW
A bone graft is carried out mainly to compensate the bone loss at the site of a dental implant.
That can be a bone graft at the site of upper teeth where the maxillary sinus is present or it can be anywhere else in the jawbone where there is insufficient bone to place a dental implant.
There are a few options for bone grafts:
Autogenous bone graft (of your own jawbone):
Is taken from another area from the jawbone of the same individual. The most common areas include posterior mandible and chin.
The technique we use for the graft depends on the amount of bone required. Sometimes, only scraping of the bone would provide enough bone particles for the recipient site. On the other hand, a larger block of bone is taken in one piece and it is fixated with screws to the recipient site.
Autogenous Platelet Rich Fibrins (PRF):
Is derived from your own blood after centrifuging the blood and separating the plasma from the red blood cells. While this type of graft is a soft product, it contains growth factors which is claimed to induce bone formation under special circumstances and in specific sites (sinus floor augmentation)
Allografts:
Are processed graft materials of human origin. These bone grafts are processed to become deproteinised (no protein) but contain the inorganic part (calcified parts). Therefore, there is no risk of any cross contamination from the donor to the patient receiving these grafts.
Xenografts:
Are graft materials of bovine or porcine origin. They are also deproteinised (contain no proteins and are completely safe) but some may or may not contain collagen, depending on the type used. These graft materials essentially are calcified particles of various sizes. There is ample evidence in literature in regard to their safety and effectiveness in clinical use in humans.
Growth factors:
These are biochemically-produced growth factors, which are used in a wide range of periodontal procedures in a few countries. The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has not yet approved any of these materials for human clinical use in Australia.
For more information on whether you will require a bone graft for your teeth or implant please see the Dental Implant page.