Periodontal Bone Regeneration in Jacksonville

A Highly Skilled Approach to Regenerating Lost Bone

• What Causes Bone Loss?
• Bone Grafting to Replace Lost Bone
• When is Bone Regeneration Needed?
• Sinus lifts

When your mouth is healthy, the teeth fit into their sockets in your jawbone, snugly surrounded by strong connective ligaments and gum tissue. All parts work together to keep your teeth firmly held in position.

Bone loss can occur for a variety of reasons, but it can easily cause a domino effect where teeth are weakened and eventually lost. Drs. Perlman and Molina have the skills and knowledge in bone regeneration to provide the treatment you need.

Knowledgeable Bone Grafting Specialists

Our doctors are highly skilled and experienced in advanced bone grafting procedures to regenerate lost bone. They keep current on the latest research and advancements in bone grafting materials for effective and reliable bone growth. They also use the latest technology for accurate and minimally invasive placement of the grafting material.

What Causes Bone Loss?

The most common causes of bone loss around the teeth are as follows:

Gum disease – The bone tissue and ligament surrounding the tooth is destroyed by bacterial plaque and calculus. As the severity of the disease increases, the bone loss worsens until it cannot support the affected teeth. This eventually causes teeth to be lost.

Missing or misaligned teeth – The bone in your jaw needs stimulation from chewing and biting to maintain its proper density and volume around your teeth. When a tooth is missing or misaligned, the lack of contact does not generate real biting pressure and the bone gradually dissolves away.

Injury to the tooth – Tooth injury or trauma can cause the tooth to shift or become infected. The infection spreads and causes bone loss around the tooth.

Infection – An infection other than gum disease can get into the bone tissue surrounding your teeth and causes bone loss; this includes bacterial or viral infections, as well as tumors.

Dentures and the Shrinking Jawbone

Once tooth roots are no longer present, the jawbone begins to shrink. Dentures do not provide the stimulation needed to maintain bone volume. In fact, the pressure on your jaw exerted by dentures actually accelerates the rate of bone loss and wears away the ridges of bone upon which they are placed.

This bone shrinkage is the reason behind the continual need to refit the dentures. Loose dentures cause sore spots, making chewing difficult and painful. Bone loss also accounts for the gradual collapse of the bottom third of your face after you have lost all your teeth and no longer have the stimulation to keep the bone volume maintained.

Bone Grafting to Replace Lost Bone

Bone grafting is a versatile procedure performed by our doctors to transplant biocompatible material into the space where the bone is missing. The goal of the bone graft process is to coax the body into rebuilding the bone and ligaments that attach a tooth to the jaw. The graft material itself does not actually become the new bone; it stimulates the growth of fresh bone tissue to fill up the space where the bone graft material is placed.

More Efficient Graft Procedure Through Advanced Technology

We have equipped our office with state-of-the-art technology to make bone grafting treatment minimally invasive and highly efficient for faster healing times.

3D Imaging Technology for Precise Planning

Our cone beam 3D CT scanner provides our doctors with a precise view of the area in need of bone grafting. It creates a 360-degree 3D image of your entire jaw which can be viewed from any angle and magnified to show small areas. The image shows the density and amount of bone surrounding your teeth, and it helps Dr. Perlman and Dr. Molina plan for the bone grafting procedure.

Growth Proteins for Accelerated Healing

When needed, our doctors will use growth proteins to stimulate bone growth. These proteins work in the same way as human stem cells do to generate new cell growth. Once placed, the protein material promotes regeneration of bone and ligaments.

When Is Bone Regeneration Needed?

Dr. Perlman or Dr. Molina will place a bone graft to regenerate bone needed for tooth support; to build up the size and shape of the ridge supporting the teeth; and to create a foundation for the placement of dental implants.

Socket Preservation After Tooth Extraction

Our doctors first and foremost always try to save your natural teeth, but sometimes a tooth needs to be extracted to maintain oral health. In that case, our doctors undertake preventative measures to keep the portion of bone beneath the missing tooth from shrinking after the extraction. They will place bone grafts in the empty socket to replace your natural bone. Over time, the grafting material will be absorbed and replaced with your natural bone.

Building Tooth Support

A tooth can have bone loss around it that compromises its stability and could lead to tooth loss if the lost bone is not regenerated. Dr. Perlman or Dr. Molina will graft bone material into the area of deficiency and rebuild proper tooth support.

Bone Grafts for Dental Implants

Our doctors always ensure there is a strong and healthy base of bone prior to dental implant placement. They will place a bone graft at the implant site to regenerate the bone needed for the implant to be properly anchored.

Building Up the Jawbone

Often denture and bridge wearers experience loss of bone on the ridgeline of their jawbone. This will cause unsightly gaps below the prosthetics. Dr. Perlman or Dr. Molina will augment the ridge with bone grafts to return it to its former level. The regenerated bone preserves the stability and density of the ridge between the adjacent teeth, and it prepares the site for a dental implant at the same time. A regenerated ridge under a dental bridge also enhances the aesthetics of the bridge.

Sinus Lifts

The maxillary sinuses are spaces behind your cheeks and above your upper teeth. When you lose teeth in your upper arch, particularly your upper molars, bone loss occurs and the sinus cavity expands, leaving just a thin wall of bone between the sinus and mouth.

Because dental implants need a solid base of bone to hold them in place, our doctors will rebuild bone depth using bone grafting procedures known as a sinus lift or sinus augmentation.

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  After a tooth is lost in the upper arch, the bone under the sinus floor diminishes.

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  A bone graft is placed under the sinus floor membrane to regenerate the bone necessary to provide support for an implant.

When the sinus has collapsed into the space of a single tooth, Dr. Perlman or Dr. Molina will perform a sinus lift where they raise the sinus in a localized area for a single implant. If the entire sinus floor needs to be raised, the doctor will insert graft material under the bottom membrane of the sinus. This sinus augmentation raises the floor level of the sinus and makes the bone deep enough for the dental implants.

To make an appointment, call 904-900-2552 or click here to request an appointment online.