San Antonio
Bone Grafting & Sinus Lifts
Make An Appointment
A staff member will contact you to schedule your appointment.
Payment Options
We work to make it as easy and convenient as possible for you to receive the periodontal care you need, and we offer several payment options.
New Patient Forms
Have an appointment soon? Fill outthe forms needed for your appointment here.
Make An Appointment
A staff member will contact you to schedule your appointment.
Payment Options
We work to make it as easy and convenient as possible for you to receive the periodontal care you need, and we offer several payment options.
New Patient Forms
Have an appointment soon? Fill outthe forms needed for your appointment here.
Expert regeneration of lost bone
The bone supporting your teeth can be lost for a number of reasons. Loss of bone can create a variety of oral health issues, such as difficulty with chewing, loosening of remaining teeth and a prematurely aged look. It can also be an obstacle to the placement implants, since implants need a certain amount of bone for proper support. Fortunately, lost bone can be replaced. Dr. Young is a specialist in bone grafting, and he can restore the bone in your jaw and resolve any associated oral problems.
Causes of bone loss
Bone loss occurs around your teeth as a result of gum disease, injury, bite misalignment or tooth loss. It can also occasionally occur as a result of a viral infection.
Your jawbone needs the biting and chewing pressure of your teeth to maintain its density and volume. When teeth are lost or your bite is misaligned, that pressure is missing and the surrounding bone progressively dissolves away and the jawline sinks.
Gum disease eats away bone
Gum disease is a bacterial infection in the gum and bone tissue surrounding your teeth, and is one of the causes of bone loss. The bacteria emit toxins that eat away the surrounding bone while also causing the gums to detach from your teeth. As the infection grows, more and more of the bone is eaten away. This endangers your teeth and can lead to eventual tooth loss.
Bone Grafting
Bone grafting is a procedure where Dr. Young takes biocompatible bone grafting material and places it into the space where the bone is missing.
The bone graft material does not actually become the new bone. It stimulates the creation of new bone tissue by the body and acts as a platform around which the new bone grows. The bone graft material itself harmlessly dissolves away as the new bone is formed.
When it’s needed
Dr. Young will place a bone graft to rebuild support for a compromised tooth, to build back the size and shape of the ridge of jaw bone supporting the teeth and to create adequate bone support for a dental implant.
Bone Grafting Solutions
Rebuilding support for a tooth
Gum disease and other factors can cause the supporting bone around teeth to dissolve away. When this happens, the teeth can become loose and are in danger of being lost.
When needed, Dr. Young will place a bone graft to replace the lost bone around the tooth and rebuild the necessary support to keep the tooth stable.
Replacing a large bone deficiency
When infection or injury has created a large bone deficiency in the jaw, Dr. Young places bone graft material into the open space and keeps it in place with a barrier membrane so the regenerated bone will grow to the proper shape and size. The barrier membrane is removed after the bone has completely regenerated.
Increasing bone support for a dental implant
When placing an implant in a space where there has been bone loss due to a missing tooth, Dr. Young will add bone graft material to rebuild adequate bone support, so that the implant can be stably placed.
On occasion the space in the jaw needing a dental implant needs to be made larger because the alveolar ridge is too narrow or because the space between the teeth is too small. Dr. Young will place a bone graft to widen the bone support at the implant site, thus creating the needed additional space for the implant.
Building back the ridge after an extraction
After a tooth is extracted, Dr. Young will place a bone graft in the empty socket to rebuild bone back up to the gum line and preserve the size and shape of the ridge. This is done to prepare that space in the jaw for a future dental implant. In many instances dental implants are placed at the same time as the graft.
Augmenting the sinus with a sinus lift
There are sinus cavities above the back teeth in your upper jaw. When you lose the teeth that are located under a sinus cavity, the bone level shrinks and the sinus cavity floor sinks downward into the upper jawbone. This can eventually make the bone too weak to support a dental implant.
Dr. Young will place bone grafting material to replace the missing bone, whether the area of missing bone was created by the loss of a single tooth or by the loss of multiple teeth. If necessary, Dr. Young will place graft material across the entire sinus floor. The procedure to raise the sinus floor is known as a sinus lift. This procedure makes future placement of one or more dental implants possible.
“He has a very gentle hand when treating me and this made the treatment very comfortable.”
“The staff at the practice are very personable. They really get to know the patients. It’s like we are best friends. I was impressed with Dr. Young from the very first day of my treatment. He has a good, gentle way about him. He took his time to explain everything I needed in detail and always had time to answer my questions. I also noticed he was never rushed to get to the next appointment. He has a very gentle hand when treating me and this made the treatment very comfortable. He is excellent at laser treatment. My gums are much better now and I am getting my implant.”
— Irene, Gum Grafting, Laser Treatment, Dental Implant
