In the last article, we discussed the importance of our back teeth in maintaining the health of our front teeth, in chewing correctly, and in the appearance of our face. Today, if we lose these essential teeth, we can replace them with dental implants. However, just like we need bone to hold our teeth in place, we need bone to anchor implants. When the upper back teeth are lost, we may not have enough bone remaining to anchor implants since the area immediately above them is often not bone, but a hollow space called the maxillary sinus.
We have learned how to add bone in this space above where the upper back teeth were through a procedure called the Sinus Graft. In this procedure, performed inside the mouth (there is no external scar in the cheek), a window is made to gain entry into the sinus space, and then bone graft is placed in the bottom half inch. After nine months of healing, this graft will trick your body into growing new bone in the bottom one/quarter of this sinus space. This bone can then be used to anchor dental implants to replace the missing back teeth successfully.
If replacing missing back teeth is something that you feel will improve your chewing and appearance (or someone you know), please discuss this with my office staff or me.