When You Have Been Told There Is Not Enough Bone

A lot of people are told they are not a candidate for implants. Usually the reason is bone: once teeth have been missing for a while the jaw resorbs, and after enough of it has gone there is nothing left for a standard implant to hold onto. The answer offered is often a graft and a long wait, or a denture and no more conversation.

That is not always where it ends, and it is worth knowing what the options actually are before accepting a no.

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Building the Bone Back

The first route is to rebuild what has been lost. Bone grafting adds material to a site so an implant has something to anchor in. A sinus lift raises the floor of the sinus in the upper jaw to make vertical room. Both are done at all six of our clinics, and for many people that is the whole answer.

Grafting takes time. The graft has to integrate before an implant goes in, which adds months to the treatment. That is the trade-off, and for some people it is the right one.

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Going Around It Instead

Where the loss is severe enough that grafting is not realistic, or you would rather not spend a year on it, there are implants designed to anchor somewhere else entirely.

Zygomatic implants

A zygomatic implant is longer than a standard one and anchors into the cheekbone, the zygoma, rather than the upper jaw. It bypasses the resorbed area completely. It is used in upper jaws where there is very little bone left, and it can support a full arch without first rebuilding the ridge.

Pterygoid implants

A pterygoid implant is angled into the denser bone at the back of the upper jaw, beyond the sinus. It is often what allows the back end of a full arch to be supported where a sinus lift would otherwise be needed.

Both are established techniques and both are more demanding than a routine implant. They need proper planning on a 3D scan and a surgeon who does them regularly.

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Where and Who

Zygomatic implants, pterygoid implants and oro-antral communication repairs are done at two of our clinics: Bohle Plains and Townsville (Kirwan). Bone grafting and sinus lifts are available at all six.

Dr Ricky Sandhu travels up from the Gold Coast to perform this work, along with All-on-X, sinus lifts and difficult extractions. Dr Sudeep Singh, a registered Specialist Periodontist, consults at both clinics, which matters when gum and bone health is part of the problem. A visiting anaesthetist attends, so a long surgical appointment can be done under sedation rather than endured.

If you are a patient at Ingham, Innisfail, Bowen or Emerald and your case needs this, we will plan it at your own clinic and be straight with you about the travel involved. It is usually a small number of appointments, not a weekly commute.

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Start With a Scan

Nobody can tell you what is possible by looking in your mouth. Every one of our clinics has a cone beam CT, and the scan shows how much bone there is, where it sits, and where the sinus and nerves run. The plan comes off that.

If you have been told elsewhere that implants are not an option, bring that opinion with you. A second look costs you a consultation, and the scan is yours to take away either way.

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What It Costs

Complex surgical cases are quoted individually, because the fee turns on how many implants are involved, which type, and whether grafting is part of it. You get that in writing after the consultation and the scan, before anything is booked. Interest-free payment plans are available and health fund rebates are claimed through HICAPS. There is more on our payment options page.