What Is An Alveoloplasty And What Dental Problems Does It Help

When you lose a tooth due to trauma or decay, the surrounding jawbone loses a valuable source of health promotion. The roots of a natural tooth provide a gentle friction that stimulates the production of nerves, cells, and tissue that keep the bone healthy. Loss of that friction can cause the jawbone to quickly lose density and deteriorate.

Jawbone loss can cause neighboring teeth to become unstable and also make it harder for your dentist to place many dental replacement options. Full and partial dentures and dental implants all require you to have a certain amount of jawbone health in order to hold the artificial teeth securely in place

If you have a weakened jawbone, an alveoloplasty might help smooth out the area enough for your dental replacement or prove the first step in a process to prepare you for the replacement. What exactly is an alveoloplasty and how can it aid your general or family dentist in your treatment?

Alveoloplasty Definition

An alveoloplasty is an oral surgery procedure where the dentist will smooth out the jawbone in the area where the tooth was lost. The jawbone can prove jagged simply due to the empty tooth cavity but more likely also owes some jaggedness to the beginning stages of deterioration.

The dentist will use a drill to gently shave down the bone to create a smooth surface that can aid in the placement of your dental replacement such as dentures or a dental implant. You will receive anesthesia and a numbing agent so the procedure will prove both relatively quick and painless.

Use in Denture Prep

Full dentures have artificial teeth attached to a rigid plate that must straddle your jawbone ridge to stay in place. The jawbone ridge then needs to have as smooth and dense of a surface as possible or your denturist will have a hard time fitting the dentures properly. Ill-fitting dentures can slide around as you chew, causing discomfort and soft tissue abrasions.

Performing the jawbone smoothing can allow your denturist to more carefully and closely fit your dentures to your particular jawbone. The end result will be much more comfortable and won't risk injuring your surrounding tissue.

Even partial dentures can benefit from this bone smoothing procedure. The plate relies less on the jawbone ridge than full dentures since natural teeth are present to help hold things in place. But the plate does still sit on the ridge and any abnormalities can still affect fit.

Use Ahead of Bone Graft and Dental Implants

Dentures don't provide the friction needed to continue jawbone health. If bone health and vitality is important to you, you will need to talk to a cosmetic dentistry specialist about dental implants, which have a root that goes into the jawbone to provide stability and that valuable friction.

Your dentist might need to perform the jawbone smoothing ahead of the implant particularly if the bone deterioration has worsened to the point that you will need a bone graft before the dental implant. The smoothing makes it easier for the dentist to place the donor bone and can help the two segments of bone heal together faster before the implant root can be inserted.

For more information, talk to a professional like Dansville Family Dental Care.


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