What if I’ve lost too much bone already?
Luckily, there are many innovative procedures that allow you to grow new bone in your jaw. Bone grafts take bone from one area in your mouth and move it to another. A "sinus lift" can grow more bone to support the top back teeth. Ten years ago we thought this was impossible, but with these new procedures almost anyone can replace their missing teeth with implants.It is important to replace missing teeth as soon as they are lost. This will keep as much healthy bone as possible in the areas where there are no teeth. It's important not to wait for problems to develop. Untreated, problems will develop.
The innovations in dental implant design; along with improvements in bone grafting materials and surgical techniques has made placing dental implants possible in areas previously not possible. The patient is often evaluated with advanced technology such as CT dental implant tomography for a very detailed assessment of the bone quality and shape. This is an exciting area of current dental research!