Bone Graft

Your maxilla (upper jawbone) and mandible (lower jawbone) are the foundations of your smile. Your teeth are held in place by your jawbone, periodontal ligaments, and gingival (gum) tissue. When severe periodontal disease erodes the jawbone, or when the roots of your teeth have been missing for years, the jawbone can lose strength and density. Eventually, the bone loss will make it difficult to replace your lost teeth with dental implants, which require sufficient bone structure to support the posts.

To strengthen the jaw, your oral surgeon can graft bone from another compatible area, bulking up the jawbone to better receive dental implant posts. In the case of the lower jawbone, the procedure is known as ridge augmentation. For the upper jawbone, grafting requires a sinus lift, during which your surgeon will carefully raise the floor of your sinus, making it possible to perform grafting between the bone and sinus.

What is the cost of a bone graft?

The average cost of a bone graft is $500 or higher depending on the dentist, and it is typically not covered by dental insurance. But with a general dentist in Doctors Network, the cost is only $150.