Bone Grafting

Creating better bone levels vertically:

When there is an obvious defect and vertical bone loss around a tooth, the standard treatment is to extract the tooth, graft, and then place an implant in the desired location. When orthodontics (braces) are used to move teeth, the bone actually moves along with the tooth in most cases, if done properly. Having this knowledge allows us to be able to use orthodontic grafting in certain situations where there is deficient bone.

In the example below a front tooth has periodontal disease and a lot of bone loss. By slowly erupting the tooth with braces this bone level can be moved to the desired position  before extracting the tooth. This way the area may need no traditional grafting and the result may be more controlled. This procedure is very technique sensitive as is the dental implant procedure and there are not many dentists that perform this type of grafting.

There are situations where grafting is very difficult such as the illustration shown. As the tooth moves across to the new location it grows bone along the way. A dental implant can then be placed in the newly formed bone.