Whether you need a bone graft to prep your jaw for a dental implant or to stop bone loss due to periodontal disease, multiple materials are commonly used in the procedure, each with its own advantages.
Our expert bone grafting team at St. Tammany Periodontics & Implants offers four effective ways to shore up your bone health. Dr. Caesar Sweidan and Dr. Laura Smith can help you navigate the options, starting with our overview of autografts, allografts, xenografts, and alloplasts.
Autografts are bone grafting materials taken from your own body, making them biologically harmonious with your system. Typically, bone tissue is harvested from the jaw, hip, or other areas rich in bone density.
The primary advantage of autografts is the reduced risk of rejection since the graft material is your own.
Autograft benefits include:
However, autografts require an additional procedure to remove the bone, which may lead to increased recovery time.
Allografts come from a donor — another human being — and undergo rigorous testing and sterilization to ensure they’re safe for transplantation.
Allografts are best for more extensive grafting procedures requiring a large quantity of bone tissue, making harvesting it from the body impractical or overly invasive.
Allograft benefits include:
Xenografts originate from a different species, usually bovines (cows) or porcine (pigs), but they are entirely safe due to diligent processing that prevents an immune response.
Xenograft benefits include:
Some patients may have ethical or religious concerns regarding the use of animal-derived materials.
Alloplasts are synthetic bone grafts fashioned from biocompatible materials such as hydroxyapatite or bioactive glass. They mimic the structure of natural bone and support cell attachment and new bone growth.
Alloplast benefits include:
If you need a bone graft, call us at St. Tammany Periodontics & Dental Implants in Covington or Slidell, Louisiana, or request an appointment online. We can help you understand bone grafting materials and select the best option for your specific needs.
