Pelvic bone piece in jaw - a question
: Dear readers,
: An elderly woman I know (65 years) has been told to remove a bridge
: in her mouth since her jaw is degenerating. The dentist told her
: that she needs an operation which involves taking a piece of bone
: from her hip (pelvic area) and implant it in her jaw. Eventually
: they want to continue this process for the rest of her jaw.
: She likes to know any complications this process may give and if anyone
: else had any experience with this.
: Many thanks,
: Leon
Hi Leon,
It is a common procedure to enhance the bonestructure with bone from a
donor site, which is usually the femur.
This procedure is called grafting and is usually very succesful, although
the bone seems to settle after a while and the gained height of the
ridges will be reduced again over time.The succes of these grafting
procedures depends on the skill of the surgeon and the general health of
the patient. Post surgical pain is usual experienced at the donor site.
By far the best succesrate can be achieved by combining the procedure
with subsequent placement of dental implants. Dental implants are also
used to retain the patients denture and can have an incredible effect on
the patient!! The amount of retention gained, mainly in the case where
the patient wears a full denture ( plate), has caused patients I know to
say that they feel they can eat foods again they haven't been able to eat
for years. Age is no restriction- I know patients of 75+ that went
through this procedure and they associated pain was almost nil. Your
friend should ask if this procedure might be an alternative to the
procedure suggested to her, because the placement of implants also
stabilizes the surrounding bonestructure. If you need more info- let me
know!!
Best regards,
Martin
