Bone & Soft Tissue Grafting Melbourne

Bone and soft tissue grafting procedures are commonly performed by our surgeons to replace missing tissue, either due to loss of teeth, previous trauma or tumours, or as a result of congenital deformity such as a cleft lip & palate. When these procedures are performed, it is to restore form and function, and to facilitate replacement of missing teeth.

A common reason for these grafting procedures is to facilitate placement of dental implants. Whilst it may be possible to place dental implants without grafting, in certain areas (particularly for upper front teeth), there may be a cosmetic compromise, if the area is not grafted and the lip/smile line is high enough to expose this contour defect.

Depending on the clinical situation, the graft may be placed at the same time as implant surgery is performed, or the procedure may need to be staged. In the latter case, the graft is placed and the area needs to undergo a healing phase before an implant can be placed at a later date. Gum grafting (gingival soft tissue grafts) may also be necessary to improve the cosmetic outcome in certain situations.

In most instances, when grafts are required for implant surgery, the patient’s own bone can be harvested from the jaws themselves and/or in conjunction with certain bone grafting materials made for this purpose, in order to minimise additional morbidity of this procedure. Bone can be harvested from other sites such as a hip graft, however, these are usually reserved for patients with significant bone loss (more commonly seen in patients who may have a deformity due to trauma or tumour surgery or cleft lip and palate patients).

Depending on the nature of the clinical condition, type of grafting and location of the graft, the procedure may be carried out under general anaesthesia, local anaesthesia +/- sedation. Your specific needs, surgery and recovery time will be discussed with you after your consultation with one of our OralMax Surgeons.