Dentists use bone grafts to rebuild bone tissue in places where the bone has been lost, whether due to tooth loss, periodontitis, or trauma. These bone grafts support the development of new bone cells, creating a cellular scaffold that is gradually replaced by your own natural, healthy bone. If you’ve lost bone because of periodontitis, there’s a very good chance your gum tissue has also receded. While bone tissue can, and does, die back and regenerate in cycles throughout our lives, gum tissue won’t grow back. Patients with significant gum loss can have gum grafts or other restorative surgeries, which can help protect the teeth and restore the appearance of the gum line, but, unlike bone grafts, gum grafts don’t encourage the growth of new gum tissue; they simply replace missing gum tissue with healthy tissue from elsewhere in the patient’s mouth.
While gums won’t grow back after bone grafts, your dentist will make sure your gums are aligned correctly and sutured properly in place after your bone graft, allowing new bone to develop in a secure environment and improving the overall appearance of your smile. While it’s always important to maintain effective oral hygiene habits, proper brushing and effective flossing are even more important for people with diminished gum tissue, which often goes hand in hand with the need for dental bone grafts, especially when the gum tissue has been repaired with surgical measures. Your dental hygienist can review your brushing and flossing with you, making sure you brush gently, thoroughly, and correctly, and can floss without damaging the gum tissue.
In many cases, people need dental bone grafts because their bone has been compromised by gum disease or tooth loss. With advanced gum disease, called periodontitis, inflammation in the oral tissues creates an environment that encourages more inflammation, leading to the eventual destruction of periodontal tissue – the tissues that make up your teeth, gums, connective ligaments, and jawbone. This systemic inflammation, left unchecked, results in tooth loss, gum loss, and bone loss. The health of each of these components depends on the health of all of them. To treat periodontitis, a dental specialist deep cleans the teeth, scaling tartar off the crowns of the teeth and scraping the roots of the teeth to plane away calcified plaque and bacteria below the gum line. When there is particularly thick tartar on the teeth, the dentist shaves this away with an ultrasonic tool, in a procedure called debridement, clearing the way to effectively scale and plane the finer points at and below the gum line. If there is substantial damage to the gums or bone, these issues will be addressed in consultation with the patient, the primary dentist, and any specialists who might be needed for bone grafts, gum restoration, dental implant consultation, or any other needs specific to the patient.
Whether you’re curious about bone grafts or receding gums, it’s clear that prevention is preferable to treatments like root planing or grafts. It’s good to know, though, that there are restorative solutions for nearly all situations involving gum and bone loss. Talk to your dentist to learn more about solutions that might work for you.