Dental implants have become a popular alternative for replacing missing teeth in every region of the oral cavity. In the anterior zone, special esthetic concerns require not only a stably anchored implant for long-term success, but also the presence of adequate hard and soft peri-implant tissues.

Before any dental implant can proceed to replace a missing tooth, or teeth, the bone of the jaw into which it will be placed need to be evaluated. This is so your Dentist can be certain that there is enough bone present for the implant to osseointegrate with.  Anterior tooth loss is often accompanied by considerable loss of alveolar bone, so augmenting hard tissue before or in combination with implant placement becomes a critical part of therapy.  Other reasons for bone loss are; periodontal disease, which has destroyed the alveolar bone so much that the alveolar ridge augmentation is necessary, some bone shapes existing in jaws may result bone loss during implant placement, or long term denture use has caused bone absorption.

But this clinical situation isn’t a problem for us, or you because the Dentists at the Esthetic & Implant Center are experienced at using the most modern techniques and biomaterials in Guided Bone Regeneration to have the bone of your jaw grow at the spot and amount that you would need.

Guided bone regeneration (GBR) techniques are surgical procedures utilizing barrier membranes to direct the growth of new bone and soft tissue at sites that don’t have enough bone in width or height for successful implant placement. Basically, the barrier membrane allows for room for new bone to grow, and keeps the site for new bone isolated, so only bone grows there and not other tissue. Biomaterial characteristics and membrane design employed in guided tissue regeneration (GTR) techniques play an important role in good results.

There are, of course, several bone graft materials offering plenty of options and by discussing them with you, we will regenerate the missing bone. According to established protocols, there are some cases where implant placement and the guided bone regeneration are done simultaneously while in other cases it is necessary the missing bone to be regenerated first and after a period of time proceed to implant placement. It is proven that applying the GBR techniques and augmenting the alveolar ridge, we create the conditions for better aesthetic results.

At the Esthetic & Implant center we use a wide variety of materials, including bone from your own mouth to induce bone growth. Autologous bone transplantation is the specialized surgical technique in which your Dentist takes bone from an intraoral area in order to use it and to augment the mass in another area of the mouth where there is a bone loss. After 6-9 months, the bone graft (autologous) will have integrated with the existing bone and therefore there will appropriate mass for implant placement. This is a very useful technique for patients having bone loss since there would not be the possibility of implant placement otherwise.


 Guided Bone Regeneration

Membrane and biomaterial are placed at the same time as the implant to promote bone growth at a deficient ridge. 6-9 months later, the bone has healed around the implant, which can be uncovered.	Bone defect on ridge, membrane covered and treated with biomaterial. Healthy ridge after membrane has been removed.