If you’ve been looking into dental implants, you’ve probably heard how important bone quality and quantity are. And if you’ve been told by a dentist that you do not have enough bone for dental implants, you may think you’re out of luck. But that’s typically not the case! At Bivona Family Dental, we have ways to make dental implants more accessible to patients like you. Between procedures like bone grafting, sinus lifts, and dental implant alternatives, we have a solution for most patients. Book a free implant consultation with us in Jasper, AL, to learn what we can do for your smile.
What Causes Bone Loss?
Natural teeth have two main parts: the crown and the root. The crown is the portion visible in your smile above the gum line, while the root lies below your gums, embedded in your jawbone.
When you bite or chew, these roots press into your jaw, stimulating the bone to keep it healthy. With proper stimulation, your jawbone constantly removes old bone (resorption) and forms new bone (ossification). But when your bone is unstimulated, resorption will occur without being balanced by ossification. Your jawbone will continue to lose mass and volume over time, becoming weaker.
As your jawbone deteriorates, you may experience issues like:
- Changes in your facial structure
- Difficulty chewing certain foods
- Wrinkly skin around your mouth
- Headaches or jaw pain
- Shifting or loosening teeth
Dental implants help prevent bone resorption by anchoring in your jaw to replace missing tooth roots. However, the longer your bone goes without stimulation, the less likely you’ll be able to support dental implants.
Solutions for Patients Without Enough Bone for Implants
If you’ve been told you don’t have enough bone to support dental implants, your journey doesn’t have to end there. At Bivona Family Dental, we take 3D X-rays of your jaw to get a full, comprehensive picture of your jaw health. With this image, we can better assess the quality of your bone and determine your next best steps.
In many cases, we use bone grafting to rebuild bone. This procedure involves placing bone grafting material on your jaw and covering it with a healing membrane. Over the next few months, the bone grafting material acts as a scaffold, helping your bone regenerate. Eventually, the bone graft will integrate with your natural bone, creating a denser, fuller foundation for your implants to rely on.
In other cases, we may need to combine a bone graft with a sinus lift. When your upper jaw gets thinner, your maxillary sinuses will expand downward. But if your sinuses are too close to your jaw, they become an obstacle to dental implant treatment. To avoid accidentally puncturing your sinus membrane, we’ll lift it upward and fill the space beneath it with bone grafting material.
Finally, in select cases, we may be able to use an alternative to traditional dental implants. Bivona Family Dental offers an innovative treatment called mini dental implants. These titanium posts are much smaller than their traditional counterparts, allowing them to fit into smaller areas of bone. But not everyone is eligible for mini implants. In many cases, your bone may not be dense enough for a mini implant, in which case we suggest sticking to traditional implant treatment.
How Does Bone Grafting Affect Your Procedure
If you were told you need bone grafting, you may be wondering how that affects your procedure price and timeline.
Bone grafting may be partially covered by dental insurance. However, coverage will vary. On some insurance plans, bone grafting is covered when it’s deemed medically necessary. But some insurance agencies don’t view implants as medically necessary, effectively limiting coverage for bone grafting.
The best way to know for sure what your plan will cover is to visit us in Jasper, AL, for a free consultation. There, our financial team will go over your insurance plan and assess your coverage.
For those without insurance or facing out-of-pocket costs, we recommend looking into financing. Bivona Family Dental works with multiple third-party financing companies that help split your costs into manageable payments. Rather than paying for your bone grafting, implants, and restoration all at once, you can get the care you need now and pay at a later date.
Additionally, bone grafting extends the timeline of your procedure, as your jaw needs time to grow. But without it, your implants can fail! When we place implants in jaws without enough bone support, your implants will have a much harder time integrating. Fortunately, Bivona Family Dental offers innovative L-PRF therapy, which helps accelerate the healing process after oral surgery. By combining bone grafting with L-PRF, you may potentially experience faster healing, better results, and stronger bone.
Not Enough Bone for Dental Implants? Visit Us in Jasper, AL
If you don’t have enough bone for dental implants, your journey isn’t over. At Bivona Family Dental, we offer innovative bone grafting treatment that helps rebuild your bone. With a strong bone as a foundation, we can often place dental implants without issue! And with insurance coverage or our flexible financing options, you help keep your care affordable. Book a free implant consultation at our office in Jasper, AL, today to learn what we can do for your smile.
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