Tooth Socket Graft
Shawnee, KS
 Those cynics among you might not agree, but when we have to remove one of your teeth, it isn’t a victory. In most cases, we see it as a loss. When we remove a tooth, we leave an empty socket. Sometimes, we don’t have a choice. Sometimes, the empty socket is ok, especially if we are removing your wisdom teeth.
Wisdom teeth are not a problem to remove if we have to leave a socket empty. But if you are missing a lot of teeth, you may be having problems with those empty sockets. This is especially true if your socket is in an area where a tooth is important. You need to have something in that area as a replacement. If you need something to replace your empty socket, Fay Periodontal Associates is a solution for you. It’s called a tooth socket graft.
Why Does An Empty Space Need Filling?Young children need a lot of space in their mouths to accommodate the teeth they will grow into. Children need all of that space for those big permanent teeth. Once your permanent teeth come in, your mouth doesn’t need any room to grow more teeth, and no more new teeth will grow. Adults who lose teeth can run into problems if they lose teeth when they are adults.
If you are an adult, you can lose your teeth in several different ways. You might experience trauma to your mouth because of an accident or an injury. You might also crack or break a tooth off by just biting down on that piece of candy the wrong way. Some adults lose their teeth because they have tooth decay or gum disease. Whether you lose teeth gradually or all of the sudden, you can have problems.
First, your body may try to shift your remaining teeth around to make up for the teeth that you are missing. Eventually, you may have trouble with your jaw. Over time, your jaw might be weaker due to your body deciding to remove bone mass from your jaw to move it around. This could reduce the amount of bone mass in your jaw, which can lead to a weaker jaw, and even a change in your facial shape. The gum tissue in the empty socket could decrease as well. What Is A Tooth Socket Graft?With a tooth socket graft, we can replace both bone and tissue that could be lost when you lose a tooth. If we can do a tooth socket graft as quickly as possible when you lose a tooth, your teeth won’t have the time to shift around. First, we will need to remove any parts of the tooth that are remaining- if you have any. We will also need to ensure that your tooth socket area doesn’t have any damage or infection. Then we can do a bone graft into your tooth socket.
When we first a bone graft, it is soft, rather than hard. Bone grafts harden over time. Once we place the bones in a tooth socket graft, we will then place a protective membrane over it. The area is then sutured closed. Healing time from a socket graft can take as little time as a few weeks or as long as a few months. We can then place your dental implant.
Schedule an Appointment
Have you had a tooth loss? Do you want to replace the tooth you lost? We can help. Give Fay Periodontal Associates a call at (913) 268-9300 today. |
