In order for dental implants to successfully bond with the recipient jawbone, the jawbone itself must be of a sufficient width, height, length, contour and density to incorporate the implant. During the planning stages prior to implant surgery, these factors are generally measured and the results used to determine the most appropriate type of implant. However, if the particular target area is toothless for an extended period of time, absence of mechanical chewing pressure may allow the bone atrophy or re-absorption, leaving a less than adequate amount of bone for the implant. In this case, either of two special medical procedures may be performed. An osteoplasty (aw-stee-oh-PLASS-tee) or bone-shaping technique may be performed prior to the implant surgery; or a bone augmentation (og-men-TAY-shun) or bone-building procedure may be performed to increase the jawbone measurements in a particular area of the mouth. If bone augmentation is required, it's often accomplished through bone grafting, or transferal of bone tissue from one donor site to a recipient site. One form of this, called autografting, may be done from another part of the patient's body, such as the chin or back portion of the jaw. By using the patient's own living tissue, negative immune reactions and cell structure differences may be avoided. If autografting is not practical for any reason, an allograft (ALL-oh-graft) may be done, taking tissue from a specially sterilized cadaver or another live human donor. Or, when very large amounts of tissue are required, they may be taken from another species via xenografting (ZEE-no-graft-ing). One final source of graft material is that of an alloplast (ALL-oh-plast) or synthetic grafting substance. In any case, any necessary bone grafting is done prior to implant placement. Then, the area will be surgically closed up and allowed to heal and mature for several months. During this time, the transferred bone tissue will typically become incorporated and solidly fused into the host bone. Once this maturation process is complete, the implants may be surgically placed.
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