What Happens If I Need a Dental Implant but My Jawbone Is Too Thin to Hold It?

Dental implants have made it possible to fully replace missing teeth, preserving your dental health better than bridges or dentures. However, your jawbone needs to be thick enough to hold the titanium post. If you’ve been missing teeth for a long time, this bone tissue may have atrophied too much for a simple implant. 

At Lancaster Dental Care Associates in Lancaster, California, Dr. Kamran Saidara and his team provide dental implants to replace missing teeth. When your jawbone is too thin or fragile to support an implant, you have options. 

Understanding bone atrophy 

The empty socket left behind by a missing tooth doesn’t remain the same forever. The root of your tooth provides stimulation to the jawbone, which encourages blood flow and the formation of new tissue. When a tooth is pulled, that root is ripped free. 

Over time, the lack of stimulation causes the bone tissue surrounding the socket to dissolve. This is known as jawbone atrophy, a kind of localized osteoporosis. 

Bone atrophy is a major concern for two reasons: It jeopardizes your surrounding teeth, and it makes implanting a new tooth far more difficult. As your jawbone degrades, it destabilizes nearby teeth. This can lead to additional tooth loss and accelerated rates of atrophy. It also makes it difficult to drill into the jawbone, preventing the placement of implants. 

When to consider bone grafting 

The sooner you fill an empty socket with a new tooth, the better. Dental implants stimulate the jawbone in the same way as a natural root, preventing bone atrophy and providing support for your remaining teeth. 

However, if your tooth has been missing for a long time, your jawbone may have become too thin to hold the implant. This not only puts you at a higher risk of jaw fracture but increases the risk that your body may reject a dental implant entirely. 

Fortunately, a thin jawbone doesn’t prevent you from replacing your teeth. That area simply needs to be reinforced with new tissue with one or more bone grafts. During this process, we harvest bone tissue from elsewhere in your body or use donor tissue. The bone tissue is grafted carefully to your existing jawbone. 

Once your body accepts the graft and fully integrates (which can take several months), your jaw should be strong enough to support a dental implant. The implanted titanium post integrates with your jawbone and provides the base for your new tooth. 

Missing one or more teeth? Consider getting them replaced soon. To learn more about bone grafting and dental implants, schedule a consultation by calling Lancaster Dental Care Associates at 661-215-8130, or booking an appointment online.