Bone Grafting-

Bone Grafting a Surgical Procedure to Repair Diseased or Damaged Bones

Mar 01, 2021

A surgical procedure using transplanted bone to repair and rebuild damaged bones in your body is called bone grafting. The bone grafting procedure is helpful to fix bones in any part of the body. The grafting is performed by surgeons taking bone from your hips, legs, or ribs. The surgeons also use bones donated from cadavers to perform bone grafting.

The type of bone grafts performed by surgeons depends on the injury the surgeon aims to repair. There are two types of bone grafts. They are:

Allograft. In allograft’s bone from a cadaver donor, cleaned and stored in a tissue bank is used for the grafting.

Autograft. In an autograft’s bone from inside your body is taken for the procedure.

Why Is a Bone Graft Performed?

Bone grafting is required for many reasons, including disease and injury. The four main reasons why bone grafting is necessary are the following:

  • If you have multiple fractures that don’t heal well after initial treatment, a bone graft proves beneficial to treat the area.
  • Healing two bones across a diseased joint receives help from fusion. The spine is most often the recipient of fusion.
  • If you have lost bone due to infection, injury, or disease, regeneration helps bone grafting. The process entails the use of small amounts of bone in cavities or large sections of bones.
  • Bone grafts are beneficial to help heal bone around surgically implanted devices like a dental implant, joint replacements, plates, or screws.

How Do You Prepare for Bone Grafting?

If you are recommended bone grafting for dental implants, the Greeley dentist performs an entire medical history and physical examination before the surgery. It is your responsibility to provide the dentist with information about any medications you are taking, including over-the-counter drugs or supplements.

Fasting for surgery is a requirement to prevent complications while under anesthesia. If you have damaged teeth, the dentist recommends extractions before the surgery besides providing you instructions on what you can or cannot do before and the day of the procedure. It is incredibly essential to follow the instructions of the dentist.

Dentist 80634 decides on the type of bone graft you need before your surgery. You are given general anesthesia to put you in a deep sleep by an anesthesiologist who monitors the anesthesia besides your recovery.

How Is Bone Grafting Performed?

The oral surgeon from dental clinics in Greeley, CO, makes incisions on the skin where the bone grafting is needed. After that, they shape the donated bone to fit into the area. The graft is held in place using pins, plates, screws, cables, or wires.

After the graft is in place securely, the oral surgeon closes the incision with sutures and dressing around the wound. A cast or splint is sometimes used to support the bone during the healing period, although casts and splints are not necessary in most cases.

What Happens after Bone Grafting?

The graft size and other factors determine how much time you need to recover from the surgery. You may recover in a couple of weeks or may require more than a year for the recovery. You must avoid rigorous physical activity for as long as your dentist suggests.

As you have bone grafts to support dental implants, you must avoid smoking or quit the habit altogether. This action improves the health of your body after the surgery and beyond. Continuing smoking after a bone graft can result in the surgery’s failure and delay the implant placement procedure eventually.

Are There Any Risks Associated with Bone Grafts?

Surgical procedures of any type are associated with risks of reactions to anesthesia, bleeding, and infections. Bone grafts are not different and are related to these risks besides pain, swelling, nerve injury, inflammation, rejection of the bone graft, and reabsorption of the graft.

Before you schedule your surgery, you can discuss these risks with your dentist and inquire what actions you can take to minimize them.

What If You Do Not Want to Undergo Bone Grafting?

If you intend to have the implant to replace missing teeth but lack sufficient jawbone, dentists recommend bone grafting before the implant placement surgery. If you do not want to undergo bone grafting, you may have to settle for alternatives to replace your missing teeth. You may have to opt for options like dentures or bridges instead of natural-looking and functioning implants that last for a lifetime. The choice is entirely at your discretion. You can either undergo bone grafting to have a natural-looking tooth in your mouth or prefer alternatives that need replacements every five to ten years.

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