Enjoying things like applesauce or yogurt may be very soothing. This does not mean you should avoid liquids! In fact, you should have a cool liquid diet for a few days.
How to care for the graft areaĬaring properly for the graft area after bone grafting surgery is important. You may even be given a course of antibiotics just as a matter of treatment for the post-operative time. Should you have an infection, it can generally be treated with a course of antibiotics. In fact, nearly 95% of grafts are successful.Īnd, if an implanted graft fails, your oral surgeon or dentist will probably be able to replace it pretty reliably. Then there is a bacterial infection that could result if the tools used during the bone grafting were not sanitized properly, which is rather uncommon. Smoking can actually raise your risk of implant failure to 20%. Alternatively, the donor bone may carry infection to you.Īnother risk factor is smoking or other things you do that do not take good care of the area post-surgery. Even though it is your own bone, because it is from an area that is not part of the jaw, the body may reject it. One reason for the infection is the graft itself. Your dentist will go over all of your options with you to make sure that you get the right solution for you. Artificial bones can be made from certain proteins that use other cells and convert them into bone. You might feel a little squeamish about getting a cadaver bone, so another option is bone from a cow. If you do have to have bone removed, this is a significant surgery and will require hospitalization. So where does your own bone graft come from? Your dentist will try to relocate some bone from your chin area first, but since your jaw may be compromised and hence the need for the implant, another option is bone from either the hip or the shin. No matter what kind of graft you get, the entire jaw will grow to seal it in. If you can use your own bone, this is the best choice since it will heal and become part of your jaw more quickly. The natural bone might come from another part of your body, or it might come from a donor or cadaver. The dental bone graft itself is either a real natural bone or a manufactured bone. You might have had a bad bacterial infection or even an injury that has also led you to bone loss and thus the need for a graft.Īnother reason you might need a bone graft is that your jaw is just not big enough to hold the implants, and it needs to be built up. You may have had bone disease or gum disease which led to tooth loss in the first place, and those factors mean you also need a bone graft to strengthen the jaw. What is a bone graft?Ī bone graft procedure is done when your jaw bone itself is not strong enough for the implants to set correctly. While most surgeries are quite successful, on rare occasions patients may get an infection after a dental bone graft. Signs that you have an issue include a lot of pain, a feeling that the graft is not attached, and inflammation of the gums.īone grafts during a dental implant procedure are quite common.
It can be treated with antibiotics pretty easily, but you will need to be sure to take the full course of medications. One of the main reasons for infections to happen in bone grafts is failing to follow the dentist’s instructions and take good care of the area after the surgery.