Prepare for Dental Implants with Bone Grafting

Posted on (not posted yet) by San Tan Oral Surgery

When you want to replace missing teeth with dental implants, you must have healthy bones in your gums. However, the alveolar bones in the gums can degrade for a variety of reasons, including poor health, an injury or a lack of nutrients. In addition, with the aging process, you can lose bone mass throughout the body, leading to weak or nonexistent bones in the gums. If you have a tooth extracted because it is damaged or infected, then the bone in the gums is also often removed because it contains bacteria. Bone grafting is a way our dentists can fix this problem.

To have dental implants inserted into your gums, you need strong bones to support the metal post that holds the screw and dental crown. Fortunately, it is possible for a dentist to graft bone into your gums. The pieces of bone are obtained from other areas of your body, or alternatively, a dentist can use an artificial substance that will offer the proper support for your dental implants. Where we take the donor bone from depends on the size of the defect we are trying to fix.

How Long Is the Healing Process?

It is important to remember that it can take as long as six months for tissue from bone grafting to integrate with the other bones and tissues in your gums. If you are having a tooth extracted, then having a bone graft at the same time will make it easier to have a dental implant procedure. Your tooth’s socket and the gums in your mouth can heal at the same time, so you can undergo a dental implant procedure in approximately six months rather than having two different surgeries. However, if you didn’t have bone grafting in your gums after an extraction, then our dentist can examine your mouth to complete the surgery so that you can have a dental implant after the bone graft integrates correctly.

Contact Us Today

During bone grafting with or without a dental implant, the procedure will be done at a hospital. You must follow our dentist’s advice concerning recovering from the bone grafting procedure, including drinking clear liquids along with only consuming soft foods until the incision heals. To learn more about a bone graft in your gums so that you can have a dental implant, speak with the professionals at San Tan Oral Surgery in Gilbert, AZ. Contact us today to schedule your consultation!

About
Dr. Cynthia Colson

Dr. Colson grew up in the Metro area, attending Camelback High School and ASU. She graduated from the University of Kentucky Dental School and completed her residency at Long Island Jewish Hospital in Long Island, New York. She also attended an anesthesia fellowship program at the University of Illinois at Chicago and has traveled with Healing The Children, a non-profit organization, to Bucarumanga Columbia treating patients with cleft lip and palate deformities.
Read more.

What our patients are saying about us

"Dr. Colson is amazing! She explained everything thoroughly without sounding condescending and gently but directly guides you through the whole procedure. She is excellent and super experienced. I got my wisdom teeth pulled (3 partially impacted and one simply extracted) and aside from asking too many questions under laughing gas before the general anesthesia knocked me out, I got no complications and have had essentially no pain at all." – Ana D.

Mid-age woman smiling and crossing her arms.

Office hours

Mon - Thur: 8am to 5:00pm
Friday: 8am to 2:00pm

Location

3303 S. Lindsay Rd.
Suite 112
Gilbert, AZ 85297

Contact

Office: (480) 604-2592

Connect

Santanxray@gmail.com

About Us | Dental Implants Gilbert, AZ | San Tan Oral Surgery
If you have recently been told you need oral surgery, you have come to the right place. Call San Tan Oral Surgery to schedule your initial consultation today!
San Tan Oral Surgery, 3303 S. Lindsay Rd. Suite 112, Gilbert, AZ 85297-2100 | (480) 604-2592 | santanoralsurgery.com | 12/6/2025 | Key Phrases: Dental Implants Gilbert AZ |