Rebuilding and maintaining bone with allograft materials: GRAFTON DBM and MINEROSS

Bone grafting for the dental patient.
Most dental bone grafting procedures are done to restore your bone to its original form following tooth loss, gum disease or trauma.  It may also be used to maintain its shape after tooth extraction. 

Restoring and maintaining facial bone structure is important for several reasons.  Many dental procedures, such as implant placement, require that the bone be as close to its original dimension and position as possible for optimal results.  Also, the jaw and other facial bones support the skin and muscle that are responsible for our outward cosmetic appearance.  Without the support of the underlying bone, our faces can look prematurely aged.

How does bone grafting work?
During the body’s normal maintenance cycle, specialized cells in the blood continually enter your tissue to remove damaged cells and replace them with new, healthy cells.  Grafting procedures place a framework of material in the areas of missing bone into which these cells can enter and start the rebuilding process.  Over time your cells will remodel the graft material into your own functioning bone.

Where does bone grafting material come from?
Bone grafting material comes from several sources.  Autograft bone is material that is taken from another point in the patient’s body and transplanted to the desired site.  It is a good graft material since it contains the patient’s own cells, and carries no risk of disease transmission.  The chief drawbacks are that it requires a second surgical procedure, and enough harvestable bone may not be easily available.

Allograft bone is material that was taken from an organ donor and processed to ensure its safety and improve the handling characteristics.  The advantages of allograft bone are that it is available in unlimited quantities and it does not require a second procedure to harvest it.  Allograft bone has been well documented in clinical trials, and has an excellent safety record.

Allograft bone from Osteotech.
GRAFTON DBM and MINEROSS allograft bone that is processed by Osteotech, Inc., the leading supplier of allograft bone to the orthopedic and dental industry.  Your doctor may use these products alone or in combination with another grafting material.

Osteotech has processed over 650,000 grafts and transplants since 1991 with no confirmed report of viral transmission.  They only utilize donor bone harvested by tissue banks accredited by the American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB).  All processing is done under strict regulations and guidelines as set by the AATB and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Each donor is extensively screened before the bone is accepted for processing.  The donor’s blood and tissues are then tested for a comprehensive array of diseases including Hepatitis B & C, HIV-1 and HIV-2.  The bone then undergoes proprietary processing procedures that have been shown to deactivate viruses.  It is then packaged into sterile, single-patient doses that are ready for implantation to help the body regrow bone.

Benefits of allograft bone

• No second surgical (harvest) site
• Available in vast quantities
• Clinically proven effectiveness
• Great track record of safety

Bone Grafting: Before...
Original bone volume
Cross-section of a jaw that has lost volume following tooth loss.  There is not enough bone to safely place a dental implant.

During Healing...
new bone formation
allograft material being surrounded and replaced
The patient’s cells migrate into the graft and remodel it into new bone.  Over time host bone will completely replace the allograft material.

After.
Restored jaw now has adequate room for placement of a dental implant to replace the missing tooth.

Bone Grafting: Before	Bone Grafting: During Healing	Bone Grafting: After

Talk to your doctor.

Every patient is different and patient results may vary.  Only a trained clinician can determine the best treatment plan for you.  Please ask your doctor to explain the benefits and risks to see if allograft bone from Osteotech is right for you.